C U R I OS I T Y F r o m D ev elo pmen t to La nd ing a nd F ir st Mission
De s i g n b y A l e x So u t h e r n Ima g e s a n d Wo rd s C o ur te s y o f N A SA
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Approaching its Second Anniversary, NASA Breaks Down the Engineering Marvel That is the Curiosity Rover Just eight years after NASA landed twin rovers on Mars in early 2004, a larger, better equipped, and overall highly advanced unit named Curiosity is producing some of the most detailed and informative data ever provided to scientists. Like NASA's twin Mars rovers that landed on the red planet in early 2004, Curiosity, or the Mars Science Laboratory rover, was tucked inside a tightly packaged cruise stage and aeroshell with a heat shield. Unlike the two Mars Exploration Rovers, Curiosity extended its wheels similar to how an airplane unfolds its landing gear just before touchdown. The spacecraft includes the mechanical units that safely carried and maneuvered the rover as it entered the Martian atmosphere and landed on Mars. The spacecraft design for the Mars Science Laboratory mission is based largely on the successful twin Viking landers sent to Mars in the 1970s. The rover design is based on the Mars Exploration Rovers, which landed on Mars in early 2004. The system for entry, descent, and landing is entirely new. The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) phase began when Curiosity reached the Martian atmosphere, about 25 kilometers (about 78 miles) above the surface, and ended with the rover safe and sound on the surface and ended with the rover safe and sound on the surface of
Mars at 10:32 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5, 2012 (1:32 a.m. EDT on Aug 6, 2012). Entry, descent, and landing for the Mars Science Laboratory mission included a combination of technologies inherited from past NASA Mars missions, as well as exciting new technologies. Instead of the familiar airbag landing of the past Mars missions, Mars Science Laboratory used a guided entry and a sky crane touchdown system to land the hyper-capable, massive rover. The sheer size of the Mars Science Laboratory rover (900 kilograms or 2,000 pounds) precluded it from taking advantage of an airbag-assisted landing. Instead, the Mars Science Laboratory used the sky crane touchdown system, which is capable of delivering a much larger rover onto the surface. It placed the rover on its wheels, ready to begin its mission at Gale Crater. The new entry, descent and landing architecture, with its use of guided entry, allowed for more precision. Where the Mars Exploration Rovers could have landed anywhere within their respective 150 by 20 kilometers (about 93 miles by 12 miles) landing ellipses, Curiosity landed within a 20 kilometer (12 mile) ellipse. This high-precision delivery will open up more areas of Mars for exploration and potentially allow scientists to roam “virtually� where they have not been
C ur i o si ty s t a nd s 7. 2 f t tal l , 9. 5ft l on g , 8. 9 ft wide and weighs in at 1,982 lb, making it by far the largest rover t o e v er h a v e l a nd e d on Mars (about 93 miles by 12 miles) landing ellipses, Curiosity landed within a 20 kilometer (12 mile) ellipse. This high-precision delivery will open up more areas of Mars for exploration an for exploration and potentially allow scientists to roam “virtually” where they have not been able to before. The entry, descent and landing sequence breaks down into four parts. During the guided entry, the spacecraft was controlled by small rockets during descent through the Martian atmosphere, toward the surface. Next comes the parachute descent. Like Viking, Pathfinder and the Mars Exploration Rovers, Curiosity was slowed by a large parachute. Timing is a crucial factor during the next sequence, where the powered descent phase fires up the rockets who control the spacecraft’s descent until the rover separated from its final delivery system, the sky crane. Like a large crane on Earth, the sky crane system lowered the rover with cables, to a soft landing with its wheels down on surface. The first drive phase is defined as the period of time after landing during which engineers first conduct tests to ensure the rover is in a safe state and then move it for the first time beyond its original zone. After entry, descent, and landing, the Mars Science Laboratory rover ventured forth on its first drive on Aug. 22, 2012, going forward about 15 feet (4.5 meters), rotating 120 degrees and then reversing about 8 feet (2.5 meters). Before making that first drive, mission controllers on Earth needed to make sure the surface directly beneath the rover’s wheels did not present an immediate hazard. They also needed to complete deployment of the mast, the High Gain Antenna, the sampling system,
test communications links, and make a few other checks before putting the proverbial “pedal to the metal.” One of the greatest concerns post landing is rover stability. Even though the rover can handle steep cliffs of up to 50 degrees and has a clearance of 60 centimeters, it’s not possible to predict down to the last inch where the spacecraft will land. If the rover had ended up, say, with one wheel on top of a rock and the others on a slope, engineers would want to know about it and make sure the rover could maneuver successfully to a safer position. Upon landing, Curiosity completed a series of automated computer sequences to make sure all systems were operating as expected and to check the immediate environment. First, it checked Martian temperatures to make sure they don’t necessitate restrictions on operations, then tested communications with Earth using the High-Gain Antenna, and following was a test of communications with Earth and orbiting spacecraft using the UHF antenna. The rover then unfolds the mast carrying the panoramic and navigation cameras and some of the science instruments and takes images as soon as possible. Finally, Curiosity helped it’s mission controllers pinpoint the rover’s precise location based on ground images, orbital images, and the length of time it takes for signals to travel between the rover and orbiting spacecraft. After all of these tasks were completed, the rover made its first drive from the landing zone onto uncharted Martian terrain. The rover tests the many
“You are examples of American know how and ingenuity. It’s really an amazing accomplishment.” - President Obama many science instruments on board as exploration gets under way. The live footage for the landing on NASA TV was so overwhelmed by viewers that it became unavailable for an entire hour. Around 1,000 people gathered in New York’s Times Square to watch the live broadcast. Bobak Ferdowsi, Flight Director for the landing, achieved internet celebrity status on his Twitter account, and the Curiosity team even got a congratulatory phone call from President Barak Obama.
Still inside a protective heat shield , the ro v e r is s p otte d parachuting to Earth by Re c o n n a i s s a nce
Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 - August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also an aerospace engineer, U.S. Navy pilot, test pilot, and university professor. Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was a United States Navy officer and served in the Korean War. After the war, he served as a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics High-Speed Flight Station, now known as the Dryden Flight Research Center, where he logged over 900 flights. He graduated from Purdue University and completed graduate studies at the University of Southern California.
A participant in the U.S. Air Force’s Man In Space Soonest and X-20 Dyna-Soar human spaceflight programs, Armstrong joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1962. His first spaceflight was the NASA Gemini 8 mission in 1966, for which he was the command pilot, becoming one of the first U.S. civilians in space. On this mission, he performed the first manned docking of two spacecraft with pilot David Scott.
Armstrong’s second and last spaceflight was as mission commander of the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969. On this mission, Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface and spent 2½ hours exploring, while Michael Collins remained in orbit in the Command Module. Armstrong was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon along with Collins and Aldrin, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, and the Congressional Gold Medal with his former crewmates in 2009. Armstrong died in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 25, 2012.