Landing sites for the two Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) to be launched in June have been selected by NASA. Which spacecraft will land at which site will be decided finally after they are en route to Mars.
MER 1, to be launched on 5 June, will be initially targeted to land on 4 January 2004 at Gusev crater, 15¡ south of the Martian equator, which appears to have once been a lake. MER 2, to be launched on 25 June, will be aimed for a landing on 25 January 2004 at Meridiana Planum, an area with deposits of an iron oxide mineral, 2° south of the equator.
The MERs, which will land cocooned in huge air bags, will be designed to examine each site for geological evidence of past liquid water activity and environmental conditions that could be hospitable to life. The MER craft will operate for at least 92 Earth days - 90 Martian days - travelling up to 400m (1,300ft) from their landing sites.
Source: Flight International