Mars Science Laboratory

[Waspie_Dwarf]

The Exploration of Mars -

Mars Science Laboratory

The original "Exploration of Mars" topic became excessively long. As a result the topic has been split into individual, mission based, topics. The "Exploration of Mars" topic is now for news and discoveries not specific to any one mission.

Links to the other topics can be found below:

• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
  
• Mars Odyssey
  
• Mars Exploration Rovers
  
• Mars Express
  
• Mars Global Surveyor
  
• Mars Phoenix Lander
  
• Exploration of Mars

Waspie_Dwarf

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NASA Announces Mars Science Lab Mission Launch Contract

The press release is reproduced below:

June 2, 2006

Bruce Buckingham
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-861-7642

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-3749

CONTRACT RELEASE: C06-033

NASA Announces Mars Science Lab Mission Launch Contract

NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has selected Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services Inc. to deliver an Atlas V rocket for the Mars Science Laboratory mission to carry a large rover to the red planet in the fall of 2009. The six-wheeled rover will explore Mars for two years, examining sites to identify where the building blocks for life may exist.

The total Mars Science Laboratory launch service price is $194.7 million. That cost includes NASA launch services and mission integration requirements. This is a firm-fixed price contract. The launch services for Mars Science Laboratory are being acquired under the existing NASA Launch Services multiple award procedures.

Principal work for the Atlas V Centaur propellant tank will be performed at Lockheed Martin's San Diego facility, while the primary work location for the Atlas V booster propellant tank's production will be done at Lockheed's facility in Waterton, Colo.

The Mars Science Laboratory will launch from Complex 41 on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology. JPL is responsible for spacecraft design and integration; integration of science instruments; spacecraft system testing; launch operations support and support of mission operations. For more information about the Mars Science Laboratory mission, visit:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/msl.html

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home

- end -

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Source: NASA Contract Release C06-033 Edited May 5, 2008 by Waspie_Dwarf

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Science Laboratory - Less Than a Year from Assembly and Testing Phase

This engineering model of Mars Science Laboratory was dubbed "Scarecrow" by the mobility team, because it is still without a brain like the famous scarecrow from "The Wizard of Oz."

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The 2009 Mars Science Laboratory, the mammoth grandchild of the 1997 Sojourner rover, is less than one year from the assembly, test and launch operations phase (ATLO). With its immense increase in size comes advanced abilities in power, technology and science data collection. In early 2008, the team will start the flight vehicle assembly and testing, simulating on earth every challenge the brave new traveler will face during the mission.

"We have moved from paper designs to real hardware and software," said Matt Wallace MSL Flight System Manager. "To name a few of the things that have happened lately: the first control and power electronics have been delivered to the testbed, our mobility and touchdown test vehicle is assembled and rolling, the initial versions of the software code for our guided precision landing are running and the landing engines were qualified for flight. MSL is a much more complex spacecraft than those we've sent before, so our assembly and testing is going to be really challenging."

Teams that represent every rover subsystem are working furiously to meet deadlines and overcome challenges to ensure that the most advanced rover to go to Mars will make its date with destiny.

Source: NASA/JPL - MSL - The Mission

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Shutterbugs Shoot 'Scarecrow'

On June 19, 2007, media visited JPL’s newly expanded outdoor Mars Yard where rovers train for future planetary missions. Visitors were treated to a test drive of the “Scarecrow” rover. Scarecrow might still be missing its computer “brains,” but it certainly showed off its monster appetite for large boulders, making easy work of traversing them. In early 2008, assembly of this hefty, hyper-capable rover will begin.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Source: NASA/JPL - MSL - Multimedia

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mars Science Laboratory Project Changes Respond to Cost Increases, Keep Mars Program On Track

In early June 2007, the Mars Science Laboratory project completed its project-wide Critical Design Review (CDR), which marks the completion of the project's design phase and transition into the build up of flight hardware. A key component of the CDR process was a technical risk, programmatic, and cost review, from which multiple independent cost assessments predicted that this technically challenging $1.7B planetary science rover mission's current content would cause it to exceed its budgeted development costs to launch by approximately $75M.

Scheduled to launch in the fall of 2009, Mars Science Laboratory is the next step of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet. Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess a variety of scientific objectives, including whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life. The rover will carry the biggest, most advanced suite of instruments for scientific studies ever sent to the Martian surface. Dozens of samples of Mars soil and rocks as the rover makes its travels will be analyzed by MSL to detect chemical building blocks of life as well as what the Martian environment was like in the past.

Because the success of MSL is of course of high importance to NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD), SMD, working with the MSL Project and Mars Program at JPL, concluded that the MSL project required some focused and prudent reductions in scope in order to better ensure project success. Furthermore, because all of the funds MSL requested were not available in the Mars Exploration Program reserves pool, and because SMD did not want to impact other current or future science missions to fund these new costs, the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters has been working closely with the MSL project and the science community to identify mission scope reductions to minimize the project's need for funds, while minimizing both technical risk and impacts to the mission's science return.

As a result of this careful process, a combination of low-impact mission scope reductions and some new funding from the Mars Program's reserves pool, has been agreed upon. Together these measures effectively resolve the MSL cost increase issues identified at its CDR.

Engineering changes to the mission include some reductions in design complexity, reductions in planned spares, some simplifications of flight software, and some ground test program changes. These changes were selected largely to help reduce mission risks. Changes in mission science content were limited to removal of the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI), the MASTCAM zoom capability from the mission, and a change from a rock grinding tool to a rock brushing tool. As noted by the science input NASA received, most of MARDI's capability can be provided by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRise camera now in orbit and working successfully. Furthermore, NASA has directed that the project expend no additional funds on ChemCam, and cost-cap SAM and CheMin at their current budgets. Future budget requests for these instruments cannot be funded. However none of the roving instruments were removed from the payload, and the science team also remains entirely intact.

"I am very pleased that we were able to resolve this challenge to the Mars Program without delaying or canceling any other mission in the Mars Program or other parts of SMD, and we avoided impacting Research and Analysis. We were also able to reduce some risks in MSL's development and flight." said Dr. Alan Stern, NASA's Associate Administrator for Science. "The MSL project, Mars Program, JPL and NASA HQ worked together to constrain the impacts to the Mars Program and keep MSL on schedule for its launch in 2009, and we all feel we succeeded." added Doug McCuistion, Mars Program Director.

Source: NASA/JPL - Mars Science Laboratory - The Missiom

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Parachute Testing for Mars Science Laboratory

12.26.07

The team developing the landing system for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory tested the deployment of an early parachute design in mid-October 2007 inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

In this image, an engineer is dwarfed by the parachute, which holds more air than a 280-square-meter (3,000-square-foot) house and is designed to survive loads in excess of 36,000 kilograms (80,000 pounds).

The parachute, built by Pioneer Aerospace, South Windsor, Connecticut, has 80 suspension lines, measures more than 50 meters (165 feet) in length, and opens to a diameter of nearly 17 meters (55 feet). It is the largest disk-gap-band parachute ever built and is shown here inflated in the test section with only about 3.8 meters (12.5 feet) of clearance to both the floor and ceiling.

The wind tunnel, which is 24 meters (80 feet) tall and 37 meters (120 feet) wide and big enough to house a Boeing 737, is part of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex, operated by the U.S. Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, is building and testing the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft for launch in 2009. The mission will land a roving analytical laboratory on the surface of Mars in 2010. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Pioneer Aerospace

› High resolution JPEG (2Mb)

Source: NASA - Missions - Mars - Images

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Testing a Parachute for Mars in World's Largest Wind Tunnel

12.26.07

The team developing the landing system for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory tested the deployment of an early parachute design in mid-October 2007 inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

In this image, two engineers are dwarfed by the parachute, which holds more air than a 280-square-meter (3,000-square-foot) house and is designed to survive loads in excess of 36,000 kilograms (80,000 pounds).

The parachute, built by Pioneer Aerospace, South Windsor, Connecticut, has 80 suspension lines, measures more than 50 meters (165 feet) in length, and opens to a diameter of nearly 17 meters (55 feet). It is the largest disk-gap-band parachute ever built and is shown here inflated in the test section with only about 3.8 meters (12.5 feet) of clearance to both the floor and ceiling.

The wind tunnel, which is 24 meters (80 feet) tall and 37 meters (120 feet) wide and big enough to house a Boeing 737, is part of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex, operated by the U.S. Air Force, Arnold Engineering Development Center.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, is building and testing the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft for launch in 2009. The mission will land a roving analytical laboratory on the surface of Mars in 2010. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Pioneer Aerospace

› High resolution JPEG (2Mb)

Source: NASA - Missions - Mars - Images

[Waspie_Dwarf]

No Speed Limit on Mars

04.04.08

It's a good thing there's no speed limit on Mars, because the next parachute to fly to the red planet will deploy faster than you can legally drive on a California freeway! The chute is designed to slow the Mars Science Laboratory as it rockets through the Martian atmosphere at more than twice the speed of sound and places a car-size rover on the surface. At its carefully selected landing area, the spacecraft's rover will use an advanced suite of instruments to assess whether the environment has ever been favorable for microbial life.

Image above: This image shows a perfectly

functioning parachute with the canopy fully open

at the opposite end of the wind tunnel after being

fired from the cannon.

Image credit: NASA

› Larger view

Related image: Two engineers inspect parachute

lines after a test › View

Engineers recently tested two parachute packing techniques in the world's largest wind tunnel at NASA's Ames Research Center. They loaded each chute into a cannon and aimed it down the middle of the tunnel. They then fired the cannon -- horizontally -- at 85 mph and let the parachute fly! Finally, they looked for damage to line attachments and other parts. All four tests were successful. They are now reviewing a veritable "jet stream" of high-speed video data to select a final parachute design for the mission, scheduled for launch in the fall of 2009.

More information about the mission can be found at _http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

Written by Linda Doran

Media contact: Guy Webster

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-354-5011

guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Source: NASA - Missions - MSL

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Martian Eyes Are Watching

April 21, 2008

The next set of "eyes" to journey to Mars are already busy observing people and objects on Earth. Keen vision will be essential to keeping the Mars Science Laboratory rover, a vehicle the size of a small SUV, out of trouble amid the red planet's cliffs, sand, and boulders. Using near-sighted and far-sighted cameras identical to the wildly successful and long-lived hazard avoidance and navigation cameras on NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, the Mars Science Laboratory rover will avoid obstacles and often find its own way.

Of course, no space explorer ever takes flight hardware for granted! Engineers conduct regular eye exams just to make sure the cameras are ready to use their digital eyesight and computer smarts to guide the rover, and naturally, to take pictures and send panoramic postcards back home.

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Higher Res Images:


Full Size Still Image


Full Size Still Image


Source: NASA/JPL - Mars Science Laboratory - Spotlight On Mars

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Third-Generation Mars Rover Dwarfs Predecessors

May 12, 2008

Mars rovers appear to be shrinking with age! The biggest, baddest, newest rover being built is the Mars Science Laboratory rover (right). It's the size of a small sport-utility vehicle. Still exploring Mars four years after landing are the dune-buggy-sized rovers Spirit and Opportunity (left). The first-generation rover, Sojourner, is the size of a microwave oven.

Why are the rovers getting bigger? The answer is one word: science. The mass and volume of science instruments -- tools the rovers use to study the Martian surface and environment -- have remained fairly constant at about 10 percent. To determine if Mars ever could have supported life, the Mars Science Laboratory rover will travel farther, carry more instruments, and sample more rocks and soils than ever before. Like a car with more gizmos, the newest robotic beast has to evolve to carry all the gear!

Image Credit:

NASA/JPL-Caltech


Source: NASA/JPL - Mars Science Laboratory - Spotlight On Mars

[thefinalfrontier]

MSL News: Landing Sites and Naming Contest

Landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory have been narrowed down to four intriguing places on the Red Planet. The car-sized rover will have the capability to travel to more scientifically compelling sites, and with its radioisotope power source, it won't need to rely on solar power, allowing for more flexibility in locations say project leaders at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After seeking input from international experts on Mars and engineers working on the landing systems, here are the four sites JPL announced (drumroll)…

Oh, before listing the sites, NASA is having a name the rover contest for MSL, so check that out, too!

Eberswalde: where an ancient river deposited a delta in a possible lake, south of Mars equator.

Gale: a crater with a mountain within that has stacked layers including clays and sulfates, near the equator. This was a favorite site for the Mars Exploration Rovers, but it was deemed to hazardous for them. Not so for MSL.

Holden: a crater containing alluvial fans, flood deposits, possible lake beds and clay-rich deposits, in the southern hemisphere.

Mawrth: , which shows exposed layers containing at least two types of clay, in the northern hemisphere, near the edge of a vast Martian highland.

"All four of these sites would be great places to use our roving laboratory to study the processes and history of early Martian environments and whether any of these environments were capable of supporting microbial life and its preservation as biosignatures," said John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. He is the project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory

observations of dozens of candidate sites by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have augmented data from earlier orbiters for evaluating sites' scientific attractions and engineering risks.

JPL is assembling and testing the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft for launch in fall 2009.

"Landing on Mars always is a risky balance between science and engineering. The safest sites are flat, but the spectacular geology is generally where there are ups and downs, such as hills and canyons. That's why we have engineered this spacecraft to make more sites qualify as safe," said JPL's Michael Watkins, mission manager for the Mars Science Laboratory. "This will be the first spacecraft that can adjust its course as it descends through the Martian atmosphere, responding to variability in the atmosphere. This ability to land in much smaller areas than previous missions, plus capabilities to land at higher elevations and drive farther, allows us consider more places the scientists want to explore."

MSL is designed to hit a target area roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. Also, a new "skycrane" technology to lower the rover on a tether for the final touchdown can accommodate more slope than the airbag method used for Spirit and Opportunity.

Source: JPL

From Universe Today, Pics and Link;

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/11/20/ms...naming-contest/

[thefinalfrontier]

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-226 December 4, 2008

Next NASA Mars Mission Rescheduled for 2011 WASHINGTON -- NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will launch two years later than previously planned, in the fall of 2011. The mission will send a next-generation rover with unprecedented research tools to study the early environmental history of Mars. A launch date of October 2009 no longer is feasible because of testing and hardware challenges that must be addressed to ensure mission success. The window for a 2009 launch ends in late October. The relative positions of Earth and Mars are favorable for flights to Mars only a few weeks every two years. The next launch opportunity after 2009 is in 2011. "We will not lessen our standards for testing the mission's complex flight systems, so we are choosing the more responsible option of changing the launch date," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Up to this point, efforts have focused on launching next year, both to begin the exciting science and because the delay will increase taxpayers' investment in the mission. However, we've reached the point where we can not condense the schedule further without compromising vital testing." The Mars Science Laboratory team recently completed an assessment of the progress it has made in the past three months. As a result of the team's findings, the launch date was changed. "Despite exhaustive work in multiple shifts by a dedicated team, the progress in recent weeks has not come fast enough on solving technical challenges and pulling hardware together," said Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The right and smart course now for a successful mission is to launch in 2011." The advanced rover is one of the most technologically challenging interplanetary missions ever designed. It will use new technologies to adjust its flight while descending through the Martian atmosphere, and to set the rover on the surface by lowering it on a tether from a hovering descent stage. Advanced research instruments make up a science payload 10 times the mass of instruments on NASA's Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers. The Mars Science Laboratory is engineered to drive longer distances over rougher terrain than previous rovers. It will employ a new surface propulsion system. Rigorous testing of components and systems is essential to develop such a complex mission and prepare it for launch. Tests during the middle phases of development resulted in decisions to re-engineer key parts of the spacecraft. "Costs and schedules are taken very seriously on any science mission," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. "However, when it's all said and done, the passing grade is mission success." The mission will explore a Mars site where images taken by NASA's orbiting spacecraft indicate there were wet conditions in the past. Four candidate landing sites are under consideration. The rover will check for evidence of whether ancient Mars environments had conditions favorable for supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of that life if it existed there. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. For more information about the Mars Science Laboratory,

Source:

visit: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl

[stevewinn]

What a set back.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Preparation for Testing of Mars Landing Radar

04.13.10

› Larger image

This image shows March 25, 2010, preparations for testing for a radar that will serve during the next landing on Mars. This day's work evaluated a setup for suspending a rover mock-up beneath a helicopter at Hawthorne Municipal Airport, Hawthorne, Calif.

During the final stage of descent of the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, to the surface of Mars in 2012, a rocket-powered descent stage will lower the rover on a tether directly to the ground. This rover is too big for the airbag-cushioned landing method used by the Mars Pathfinder mission in 1997 and Mars Exploration Rover landings in 2004.

At Mars, a radar on the descent stage will track the decreasing distance to the surface during descent. Helicopter-flown testing of the radar system for the mission includes checking whether the suspended rover might confuse the radar about the speed of descent toward the ground. This image shows mechanical testing of the system for suspending a rover mock-up for the later radar test, before the engineering test model of the landing radar was mounted onto the helicopter.

Wolfe Air Aviation, of Pasadena, Calif., provided the helicopter and flight services for the testing by a team of engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena.

The Mars Science Laboratory mission, managed by JPL for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, is in assembly and testing for launch in autumn 2011 and delivering the rover Curiosity to Mars in summer 2012.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Source: NASA - Missions -MSL

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Testing of Mars Landing Radar near Lancaster, Calif.

04.13.10

› Larger image

This image shows April 9, 2010, testing for a radar that will serve during the next landing on Mars. This day's work used prescribed descent paths flown by a helicopter carrying an engineering test model of the landing radar for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory.

The descents during that day of the multi-week testing program were flown near Lancaster, Calif., over a patch of desert with abundant California poppies.

Wolfe Air Aviation, of Pasadena, Calif., provided the helicopter and flight services for the testing by a team of engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena.

The Mars Science Laboratory mission, managed by JPL for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, is in assembly and testing for launch in autumn 2011 and delivering a rover named Curiosity to Mars in summer 2012.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Source: NASA - Missions -MSL

Edited May 22, 2010 by Waspie_Dwarf

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Radar Testing for Mars Science Labotatory

04.13.10

› Larger image

April 2010 testing for a radar that will serve during the next landing on Mars used prescribed descent paths flown by a helicopter carrying an engineering test model of the landing radar for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory.

The descents at different angles and from different heights simulated paths associated with specific candidate landing sites for the mission. The Mars Science Laboratory mission, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, is in assembly and testing for launch in autumn 2011 and delivering a rover named Curiosity to Mars in summer 2012.

Wolfe Air Aviation, of Pasadena, Calif., provided the helicopter and flight services for the testing by a team of JPL engineers in flights near Lancaster, Calif., and other locations. This image from April 9, 2010, shows the test radar affixed to a gimbal mounting at the front of the helicopter, which is more often used for aerial photography.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Source: NASA - Missions -MSL

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Geometry Drives Selection Date for 2011 Mars Launch

05.20.10

This artist's concept from an animation

depicts Curiosity, the rover to be launched

in 2011 by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory,

as it is being lowered by the mission's

rocket-powered descent stage during a

critical moment of the "sky crane"

landing in 2012. Image Credit: NASA/

JPL-Caltech

› Larger image

Planners of NASA's next Mars mission have selected a flight schedule that will use favorable positions for two currently orbiting NASA Mars orbiters to obtain maximum information during descent and landing.

Continuing analysis of the geometry and communications options for the arrival at Mars have led planners for the Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, to choose an Earth-to-Mars trajectory that schedules launch between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011. Landing will take place between Aug. 6 and Aug. 20, 2012. Due to an Earth-Mars planetary alignment, this launch period actually allows for a Mars arrival in the earlier portion of the landing dates under consideration.

"The key factor was a choice between different strategies for sending communications during the critical moments before and during touchdown," said Michael Watkins, mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The shorter trajectory is optimal for keeping both orbiters in view of Curiosity all the way to touchdown on the surface of Mars. The longer trajectory allows direct communication to Earth all the way to touchdown."

The simplicity of direct-to-Earth communication from Curiosity during landing has appeal to mission planners, in comparison to relying on communications relayed via NASA's Mars Odyssey, which has been orbiting Mars since 2001, and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, in operation since 2006. However, the direct-to-Earth option allows a communication rate equivalent to only about 1 bit per second, while the relay option allows about 8,000 bits or more per second.

Landing on Mars is always difficult, with success uncertain. After an unsuccessful attempted Mars landing in 1999 without definitive information on the cause of the mishap, NASA put a high priority on communication during subsequent Mars landings.

"It is important to capture high-quality telemetry to allow us to learn what happens during the entry, descent and landing, which is arguably the most challenging part of the mission," said *** Li, manager of NASA's Mars Exploration Program at JPL. "The trajectory we have selected maximizes the amount of information we will learn to mitigate any problems."

Curiosity will use several innovations during entry into the Martian atmosphere, descent and landing in order to hit a relatively small target area on the surface and set down a rover too heavy for the cushioning air bags used in earlier Mars rover landings. In a "sky-crane" maneuver during the final minute of arrival, a rocket-powered descent stage will lower Curiosity on a tether for a wheels-down landing directly onto the surface.

Even though Curiosity won't be communicating directly with Earth at touchdown, data about the landing will reach Earth promptly. Odyssey will be in view of both Earth and Curiosity, in position to immediately forward to Earth the data stream it is receiving during the touchdown. Odyssey performed this type of "bent-pipe" relay during the May 25, 2008, arrival of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander.

Curiosity will rove extensively on Mars, carrying an analytical laboratory and other instruments to examine a carefully selected landing area. It will investigate whether conditions there have favored development of microbial life and its preservation in the rock record. Plans call for the mission to operate on Mars for a full Martian year, which is equivalent to two Earth years.

Consideration of landing sites for the mission narrowed to four finalist candidates in November 2008. The candidate sites are still being analyzed for safety and science attributes.

Curiosity is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL also manages the Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions, in partnership with Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

More information about NASA's Mars Science Laboratory is at:

http://www.nasa.gov/msl

Guy Webster 818-354-6278

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

2010-171

Source: NASA - Missions - Mars Science Laboratory

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Martian Series: Testing Curiosity's Parachute Part 1

27 May 2010

Segment of Be A Martian video series, which chronicles people in and outside the Mars' missions. This 4--part story shows our engineers testing a new parachute in the largest wind tunnel on Earth for the Curiosity rover, scheduled to land on Mars in the Fall of 2011.

Source: JPLnews Channel - YouTube

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Martian Series: Testing Curiosity's Parachute Part 2

27 May 2010

Segment of Be A Martian video series, which chronicles people in and outside the Mars' missions. This 4--part story shows our engineers testing a new parachute in the largest wind tunnel on Earth for the Curiosity rover, scheduled to land on Mars in the Fall of 2011.

Source: JPLnews Channel - YouTube

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Martian Series: Testing Curiosity's Parachute Part 3

27 May 2010

Segment of Be A Martian video series, which chronicles people in and outside the Mars' missions. This 4--part story shows our engineers testing a new parachute in the largest wind tunnel on Earth for the Curiosity rover, scheduled to land on Mars in the Fall of 2011.

Source: JPLnews Channel - YouTube

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Martian Series: Testing Curiosity's Parachute Part 4

27 May 2010

Segment of Be A Martian video series, which chronicles people in and outside the Mars' missions. This 4--part story shows our engineers testing a new parachute in the largest wind tunnel on Earth for the Curiosity rover, scheduled to land on Mars in the Fall of 2011.

Source: JPLnews Channel - YouTube

[Waspie_Dwarf]

JPL's Next Mars Rover Landing Radar Tested at Dryden

06.11.10

Brian Lataille of Wolfe Air Aviation and

Charles Fisher of JPL prepare the

engineering model of the Mars Science

Laboratory descent radar on the nose

gimbal of a helicopter during flight

tests at NASA's Dryden Flight Research

Center. The yellow disks are the radar's

antennae.

(NASA / Tony Landis)

NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center recently provided logistics and range support for a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory team that tested a landing radar system for the next Mars rover mission adjacent to Dryden's Edwards Air Force Base facilities.

Testing for the JPL-managed Mars Science Laboratory or MSL project included suspending a full-scale engineering model of the MSL rover from a helicopter and flying pre-planned flight trajectories over Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards to simulate the rover's descent stage carrying the rover to the surface of Mars. JPL engineers needed to verify that the radar will provide accurate altitude and velocity measurements at Mars and that the suspended rover will not confuse the ability of the descent stage's radar to accurately calculate the rover's descent speed for a safe, on-target landing.

"Dryden offers a unique location to perform testing of this kind," said Carrie Rhoades, the Dryden flight operations engineer managing the MSL project at Dryden. "We have restricted airspace and a large dry lakebed that is useful in simulating several Mars-like features. Dryden is also conveniently close to JPL, so troubleshooting the system and fixing any issues has been relatively easy to accomplish," she said.

The helicopter, carrying the MSL radar on a special nose-mounted gimbal system, mimicked the MSL's descent stage on which the radar will be mounted during the mission to Mars. The unique, rocket-powered descent stage will lower the rover, named Curiosity, on cables directly to the planet's surface in a maneuver dubbed “skycrane.” The descent stage will then fly away to a preplanned crash after releasing the cables, leaving Curiosity with its wheels on the Martian surface, ready to begin its search for ancient habitats.

In this computer-generated image, NASA's

Mars Science Laboratory descent stage

lowers the rover Curiosity to the Martian

surface using the skycrane maneuver.

(NASA / JPL-Caltech)

“Our JPL team is thrilled to have accomplished this critical radar field test at Dryden,” said Steven Lee, MSL’s Guidance, Navigation, and Control Systems manager. “The large, flat expanse of Rogers Dry Lake provided an ideal venue for our initial tests. The Dryden team did a great job accommodating our logistical and flight support needs, from hangar space to flight clearances.

"Preliminary results indicate the radar performs as expected and we look forward to continuing our field tests at other Mars-like sites including Amboy Crater, Cadiz Sand Dunes, and Death Valley," Lee added.

The new skycrane landing method was chosen for the next Mars mission because Curiosity will be the largest rover yet sent to Mars. It's too large for the airbag-cushioned landing method used by NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission in 1997 and the twin Mars Exploration Rover landings in 2004. Also, the MSL mission has a requirement for landing at a more-precise point on Mars than previous rover missions, aiding in the selection of the landing concept.

Starting in 2008, Dryden has flown an F/A-18 in a series of MSL developmental flights designed to collect environmental control system data to help validate the MSL radar system. In one flight series, the F/A-18 carried a Quick Test Experimental Pod housing the radar's environmental control hardware to an altitude of 47,000 feet and made a series of dives to simulate a high-speed entry into the Martian atmosphere. More of these flights are scheduled in the coming months to assist JPL in further verifying the MSL radar performance.

The Mars Science Laboratory descent

stage radar attached to this Wolfe Air

Aviation helicopter's nose gimbal was

the focus of recent testing at NASA's

Dryden Flight Research Center.

(NASA / Tony Landis)

Mars Science Lab mission components such as Curiosity, the descent stage, the cruise stage and the aeroshell are currently undergoing assembly and testing at JPL in Pasadena, Calif., in preparation for an autumn 2011 launch. Curiosity is scheduled to reach Mars in the summer of 2012.

Wolfe Air Aviation, of Pasadena, Calif., provided their Eurocopter AS350 AStar helicopter and crew for the tests. The helicopter's Gyron gimbaled mounting system, provided by Nettman Systems International, is normally used to carry aerial video camera equipment for the motion picture industry.

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› Mars Science Laboratory Mission Page

Gray Creech, Tybrin Corp.

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

Source: NASA - Missions - Mars Science Laboratory

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NASA Instrument Will Identify Clues to Martian Past

06.28.10

NASA's Curiosity rover, coming together for a late 2011 launch to Mars, has a newly installed component: a key onboard X-ray instrument for helping the mission achieve its goals.

Researchers will use Curiosity in an intriguing area of Mars to search for modern or ancient habitable environments, including any that may have also been favorable for preserving clues about life and environment

Decades of work preparing a miniaturized

laboratory for identifying minerals on Mars

have also yielded spinoff versions with

diverse applications on Earth and, possibly,

the moon. This image shows one of the

spinoffs, in the orange case, in use during

a November 2008 expedition to the Mauna

Kea volcano in Hawaii.

Image Credit: NASA

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The team assembling and testing Curiosity at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., fastened the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument inside the rover body on June 15. CheMin will identify the minerals in samples of powdered rock or soil that the rover's robotic arm will deliver to an input funnel.

"Minerals give us a record of what the environment was like at the time they were formed," said the principal investigator for CheMin, David Blake of NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Temperature, pressure, and the chemical ingredients present -- including water -- determine what minerals form and how they are altered.

The instrument uses X-ray diffraction, a first for a mission to Mars and a more definitive method for identifying minerals than any instrument on previous missions. It supplements the diffraction measurements with X-ray fluorescence capability to garner further details of composition.

X-ray diffraction works by directing an X-ray beam at a sample and recording how the X-rays are scattered by the sample's atoms. All minerals are crystalline, and in crystalline materials, atoms are arranged in an orderly, periodic structure, causing the X-rays to be scattered at predictable angles. From those angles, researchers can deduce the spacing between planes of atoms in the crystal.

Members of NASA's Mars Science

Laboratory team carefully steer the hoisted

Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin)

instrument during its June 15, 2010,

installation into the mission's Mars rover,

Curiosity.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

› Full image and caption

"You get a series of spacings and intensities for each mineral," Blake said. "It's more than a fingerprint because it not only provides definitive identification, but we know the reason for each pattern, right down to the atomic level."

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission will send Curiosity to a place on Mars where water-related minerals have been detected by Mars orbiters. The rover's 10 science instruments will examine the site's modern environment and geological clues to its past environments. NASA's multi-step strategy might include potential future missions for bringing Mars samples to Earth for detailed analysis. One key goal for the Mars Science Laboratory mission is to identify a good hunting ground for rocks that could hold biosignatures -- evidence of life -- though this mission itself will not seek evidence of life.

On Earth, life has thrived for more than 3 billion years, but preserving evidence of life from the geologically distant past requires specific, unusual conditions.

Fossil insects encased in amber or mastodon skeletons immersed in tar pits are examples of how specific environments can store a record of ancient life by isolating it from normal decomposition. But Mars won't have insects or mastodons; if Mars has had any life forms at all, they were likely microbes. Understanding what types of environments may have preserved evidence of microbial life from billions of years ago, even on Earth, is still an emerging field of study. Some factors good for life are bad for preserving biosignatures. For example, life needs water, but organic compounds, the carbon-chemical ingredients of life, generally oxidize to carbon dioxide gas if not protected from water.

Some minerals detectable by CheMin, such as phosphates, carbonates, sulfates and silica, can help preserve biosignatures. Clay minerals trap and preserve organic compounds under some conditions. Some minerals that form when salty water evaporates can encase and protect organics, too. Other minerals that CheMin could detect might also have implications about past conditions favorable to life and to preservation of biosignatures.

"We'll finally have the ability to conduct a wide-ranging inventory of the minerals for one part of Mars," said John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, chief scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory. "This will be a big step forward. Whatever we learn about conditions for life, we'll also get a great benefit in learning about the early evolution of a planet."

Curiosity's 10 science instruments, with about 15 times more mass than the five-instrument science payload on either of the Mars rovers Spirit or Opportunity, provide complementary capabilities for meeting the mission's goals. Some will provide quicker evaluations of rocks when the rover drives to a new location, helping the science team choose which rocks to examine more thoroughly with CheMin and the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) experiment. SAM can identify organic compounds. Imaging information about the context and textures of rocks will augment information about the rocks' composition.

"CheMin will tell us the major minerals there without a lot of debate," said Jack Farmer of Arizona State University, Tempe, a member of the instrument's science team. "It won't necessarily reveal anything definitive about biosignatures, but it will help us select the rocks to check for organics. X-ray diffraction is the gold standard for mineralogy. Anyone who wants to determine the minerals in a rock on Earth takes it to an X-ray diffraction lab."

Blake began working 21 years ago on a compact X-ray diffraction instrument for use in planetary missions. His work with colleagues has resulted in commercial portable instruments for use in geological field work on Earth, as well as the CheMin instrument. The spinoff instruments have found innovative applications in screening for counterfeit pharmaceuticals in developing nations and analyzing archaeological finds.

CheMin is roughly a cube 25 centimeters (10 inches) on each side, weighing about 10 kilograms (22 pounds). It generates X-rays by aiming high-energy electrons at a target of cobalt, then directing the X-rays into a narrow beam. The detector is a charge-coupled device like the ones in electronic cameras, but sensitive to X-ray wavelengths and cooled to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit).

A sample wheel mounted between the X-ray source and detector holds 32 disc-shaped sample cells, each about the diameter of a shirt button and thickness of a business card, with transparent plastic walls. Rotating the wheel can position any cell into the X-ray beam. Five cells hold reference samples from Earth to help calibrate the instrument. The other 27 are reusable holders for Martian samples. Samples of gritty powder delivered by the robotic arm to CheMin's inlet funnel will each contain about as much material as in a baby aspirin.

Each CheMin analysis of a sample requires up to 10 hours of accumulating data while X-rays are hitting the sample. The time may be split into two or more nights of operation.

Besides X-ray diffraction, CheMin records X-ray fluorescence data from the analyzed material. X-ray fluorescence works by recording the secondary X-rays generated when the atoms in the sample are excited by the primary X-ray source. Different elements, when excited, emit fluorescent X-rays at different and characteristic energies, so this information indicates which elements are present. This compositional information will supplement similar data collected by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer on Curiosity's arm.

CheMin's team of scientists combines expertise in mineralogy, petrology, materials science, astrobiology and soil science, with experience studying terrestrial, lunar and Martian rocks.

The launch period for the Mars Science Laboratory will begin on Nov. 25, 2011, for a landing on Mars in August 2012. Blake's wish for results from the Martian rock data he's already been anticipating for more than two decades: "I hope we find something unexpected, something surprising."

Guy Webster 818-354-6278

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

2010-213

Source: NASA - Missions - Mars Science Laboratory

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Next Mars Rover Sports a Set of New Wheels

07.01.10

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, is sitting pretty on a set of spiffy new wheels that would be the envy of any car show on Earth.

The wheels and a suspension system were added this week by spacecraft technicians and engineers. These new and important touches are a key step in assembling and testing the flight system in advance of a planned 2011 launch.

Mars rover Curiosity, the centerpiece of

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission,

is coming together for extensive testing

prior to its late 2011 launch.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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› 3-D interactive

› Interactive panorama

Curiosity, centerpiece of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, is a six-wheeler and uses a rocker-bogie suspension system like its smaller predecessors: Spirit, Opportunity and Sojourner. Each wheel has its own drive motor, and the corner wheels also have independent steering motors. Unlike earlier Mars rovers, Curiosity will also use its mobility system as a landing gear when the mission's rocket-powered descent stage lowers the rover directly onto the Martian surface on a tether in August 2012.

In coming months at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the mobility system will get functional testing and be part of environmental testing of the rover. The mobility system will now stay on Curiosity through launch unless testing identifies a need for rework that would require it to be disassembled.

With the wheels and suspension system

already installed onto one side of NASA's

Mars rover Curiosity the previous day,

spacecraft engineers and technicians

prepare the other side's mobility subsystem

for installation on June 29, 2010.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

› Full image and caption

The mission will launch from Florida during the period Nov. 25 to Dec. 18, 2011. Curiosity will examine an area of Mars for modern or ancient habitable environments, including any that may have also been favorable for preserving clues about life and environment, though this mission will not seek evidence of life. It will examine rocks, soil and atmosphere with a diverse payload of tools, including a laser to vaporize patches of rock from a distance and an instrument designed to test for organic compounds.

Guy Webster 818-354-6278

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

2010-221

Source: NASA - Missions - Mars Science Laboratory

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Wheels Installed on Next Mars Rover

4 July 2010

The wheels and suspension system have been installed on NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, a key step in assembly and testing of the flight system for the Mars Science Laboratory mission slated to launch next year. The centerpiece of MSL, Curiosity has six wheels and a rocker-bogie suspension system like its smaller predecessors: Spirit, Opportunity and Sojourner. Each wheel has its own drive motor and the corner wheels also have independent steering motors. Unlike earlier Mars rovers, Curiosity will also use its mobility system as landing gear when the mission's rocket-powered descent stage lowers the rover directly onto the Martian surface on a tether in August 2012.

Source: NASA Channel - YouTube

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Curiosity Spins Its Wheels

07.01.10

The wheels that will touch down on Mars in 2012 are several rotations closer to spinning on the rocky trails of Mars.

Engineers just installed six new wheels

on the Curiosity rover, and rotated all six

wheels at once on July 9, 2010.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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This video clip shows engineers in the JPL clean room where the rover is being assembled as they put all six wheels into motion for the first time.

Engineers raised the rover just as a car mechanic would hoist a car to check the wheels, and started the "engine" to get the wheels rotating. The wheel mobility system has 10 motors in all--four for steering the rover and six for driving. During this test, all 10 motors ran in every direction. Each wheel spun forward and backwards.

Next up for Curiosity is a series of "tune-ups" to prep the rover for driving.

Learn more about Curiosity at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

Guy Webster 818-354-6278

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

2010-233

Source: NASA - Missions - Mars Science Laboratory