Four student teams will be set up to define the scientific objectives of a space mission and a preliminary end - to - end mission design
including the
spacecraft, scientific instruments, mission, and science
operations capable of meeting the stated objectives.
MSSS, a small, privately - owned company of ~ 60 employees located in San Diego, CA provides products and services in three main areas: Cameras for
spacecraft; Spacecraft instrument operations; Space science research MSSS cameras include those that were aboard Mars Observer (MO), Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Mars Polar Lander (MPL), Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO), Mars Odyssey (ODY), Cosmos I, and the Phoenix Mars Lan
spacecraft;
Spacecraft instrument operations; Space science research MSSS cameras include those that were aboard Mars Observer (MO), Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Mars Polar Lander (MPL), Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO), Mars Odyssey (ODY), Cosmos I, and the Phoenix Mars Lan
Spacecraft instrument
operations; Space science research MSSS cameras
include those that were aboard Mars Observer (MO), Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Mars Polar Lander (MPL), Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO), Mars Odyssey (ODY), Cosmos I, and the Phoenix Mars Lander (PHX).
These advances
include the near - global three - dimensional sampling by the Argo array of temperature and salinity profiling floats and spaceborne measurements of sea surface salinity using the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS)
spacecraft and NASA's Aquarius mission aboard the Argentine SAC - D
spacecraft (which ceased
operations in June 2015).