MSL now has a name...Curiousity

[MeteorWayne]

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, scheduled for launch in 2011, has a new name thanks to a sixth-grade student from Kansas. Twelve-year-old Clara Ma from the Sunflower Elementary school in Lenexa submitted the winning entry, "Curiosity." As her prize, Ma wins a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., where she will be invited to sign her name directly onto the rover as it is being assembled.

A NASA panel selected the name following a nationwide student contest that attracted more than 9,000 proposals via the Internet and mail. The panel primarily took into account the quality of submitted essays. Name suggestions from the Mars Science Laboratory project leaders and a non-binding public poll also were considered.

"Students from every state suggested names for this rover. That's testimony to the excitement Mars missions spark in our next generation of explorers," said Mark Dahl, the mission's program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Many of the nominating essays were excellent and several of the names would have fit well. I am especially pleased with the choice, which recognizes something universally human and essential to science."

Ma decided to enter the rover-naming contest after she heard about it at her school.

"I was really interested in space, but I thought space was something I could only read about in books and look at during the night from so far away," Ma said. "I thought that I would never be able to get close to it, so for me, naming the Mars rover would at least be one step closer."

"Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day," Ma wrote in her winning essay. "Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder."

The naming contest was conducted in partnership with Disney-Pixar's animated film "WALL-E." The activity invited ideas from students 5 - 18 years old enrolled in a U.S. school. The contest started in November 2008. Entries were accepted until midnight Jan. 25.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures supplied the prizes for the contest, including 30 for semifinalists related to "WALL-E." Nine finalists have been invited to provide messages to be placed on a microchip mounted on Curiosity. The microchip also will contain the names of thousands of people around the world who have "signed" their names electronically via the Internet. Additional electronic signatures still are being accepted via the Internet.

"We have been eager to call the rover by name," said Pete Theisinger, who manages the JPL team building and testing Curiosity. "Giving it a name worthy of this mission's quest means a lot to the people working on it."

Curiosity will be larger and more capable than any craft previously sent to land on the Red Planet. It will check to see whether the environment in a selected landing region ever has been favorable for supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of life. The rover also will search for minerals that formed in the presence of water and look for several chemical building blocks of life.

The Mars Science Laboratory project is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about the mission and the contest winner, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/msl

 

[tanstaafl76]

My suggestion was "Passively Interested" but I guess "Curiosity" will do.

 

[dragon04]

I'm pretty non-plussed. In addition, I gotta think it's staged... Come on. A Chinese American girl from Corn Country's unimaginative name is picked from.... What was it? 9,000 possibilities? That has "PR" written all over it. Gimme a break.

Since this one would be the 4th rover, I demand that the next one be named Johnny Five.

 

[MeteorWayne]

MSL's power source degrading faster than expected. Curiousity, sheduled for launch next year, will have less power than hoped for when it arrives on Mars:

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology ... 00331.html

"Now engineers are taking a close look at the car-sized rover's nuclear power plant.

Engineers preparing the Curiosity rover for its planned launch in 2011 found a slightly faster than expected degradation rate in the rover's multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator, or MMRTG for short.

The MMRTG is designed to enhance the rover's range and operability and lifetime on the red planet. The unit uses some 10 pounds (4.8 kg) of plutonium dioxide, mostly plutonium-238, as a heat source.

....

"Right now we are working with Department of Energy to try and understand it," McCuistion told SPACE.com, "but to-date the only impact is expected to be some operational work-arounds in Martian winter...slower operational pace essentially because it'll take longer to charge the batteries."

Curiosity's MMRTG power plant is currently fully fueled and stored at the Idaho National Laboratory, where it is awaiting delivery to the rover's launch site in Cape Canaveral, Fla., next year

 

[3488]

Let's hope this will not be a problem.

The RTG is clearly up to the task, only that MSL Curiosity will have to take a slightly slower pace.

Surely there must have been exprerience gained from the two Viking Landers back in the 1970's both of which were RTG powered???

Also of course the Pioneers 10 & 11, Voyagers 1 & 2, Ulysses, Galileo, Cassini, New Horizons, though of course they are not landers.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

Parachute testing :

from http://www.youtube.com/user/JPLnews :
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7vf2HUMMdo[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRRcbZlofOk[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NJamPhtRjA[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6TceTZq1L0[/youtube]

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov : Next Mars Rover Sports a Set of New Wheels (with video)

July 01, 2010


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

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.

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.

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

 

[kk434]

Risky Sky crane for Mars Science Lab

I have watched a lot of helicopters hoisting down cargo and people to the ground, the stuff dangles, swings violently and looks very risky. Even despite that those helicopter pilots have done this thing 100 times. Now MSL is going to be hoisted down to Mars by a rocket powered sky crane!!!!!!! The risks are beyond belife, i will be pure luck i it succeds. I think Viking/Phoenix style landing is the only viable way to land on mars, what where NASA thinking? Never before tested stuff on a flagship mission????

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Risky Sky crane for Mars Science Lab

This will be merged into the existing MSL/Curiousity discussion.

 

[kk434]

Ups! sorry, i didn't understand how my post was moved, now i get it.

 

[EarthlingX]

A couple of videos, links, images and similar spam :

marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov : Mars Science Laboratory Mission Overview

Scheduled to launch in the fall of 2011, Mars Science Laboratory is part 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 whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet's "habitability."

http://www.youtube.com/user/JPLnews

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaRS2PAHJGA[/youtube]

marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov : Entry, Descent, and Landing Configuration

marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov : About mission technology : Entry, Descent, and Landing :

marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov : Sky Crane

CAD/CAM Drawing of Sky Crane and Rover
This drawing shows how the rover would be lowered on a tether during entry, descent, and landing (EDL). Image Credit: NASA/JPL

Mars Science Laboratory represents the first use of a "soft-landing" technique employed at Mars. The sheer mass of Mars Science Laboratory prevents engineers from using the familiar airbags to deliver their rover safely to the martian surface. As rovers become more capable and carry more instruments, they become larger. So, in order to accommodate this advanced mission, engineers designed a sky-crane method that will lower the rover to the surface.

After the parachute has significantly slowed the vehicle and the heatshield (that has protected the rover during entry) separates, the descent stage will separate from the backshell. Using four steerable engines, the descent stage will slow the nested rover down even further to eliminate the effects of any horizontal winds. When the vehicle has been slowed to nearly zero velocity, the rover will be released from the descent stage. A bridle and "umbilical cord" will lower the rover to the ground. During the lowering, the rover's front mobility system will be deployed so that it is essentially ready to rove upon landing. When the on-board computer senses that touchdown is successful, it will cut the bridle. The descent stage then pitches away from the rover and powers away at full throttle to a crash-landing far from Mars Science Laboratory.

Check also this cargo hauling drones and what military thinks about using drones.

Here's one more :
news.cnet.com : Boeing's robo-copter flexes its muscle

March 15, 2010 1:17 PM PDT

by Jonathan E. Skillings


A Boeing A160T Hummingbird performs a sling-load test flight in Victorville, Calif., in January.
(Credit: Boeing)

The pack mule of the 21st century could well be a robot. Don't be surprised to see it in flight.

Boeing on Monday said that its autonomous, unmanned A160T Hummingbird made quick work of a resupply test last week at the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. During the demonstration, the cargo copter carried out seven test flights.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYNd9CvndEs[/youtube]

 

[EarthlingX]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rOIgDlT_Q4[/youtube]

 

[kk434]

I'm the only one worried about the risky sky crane?? From an engiennering standpoint 1000 things can go wrong and on the firsh attempt at least something will fail. Why did they choose such bold landing method? It's to late to change the decant type for the MSL but i'm worried that a MSL failure will set Mars exploration back for decades.

 

[JonClarke]

I'm the only one worried about the risky sky crane?? From an engiennering standpoint 1000 things can go wrong and on the firsh attempt at least something will fail. Why did they choose such bold landing method? It's to late to change the decant type for the MSL but i'm worried that a MSL failure will set Mars exploration back for decades.

The 11th commandment seems to be "Nothing should be done for the first time".

The Skycrane certainly gives me the heebies, but then so do airbags. What specifrically about this technique do you think makes it riskier than other approaches?

As to why it was chosen, this seems to be because it was lighter and you had less rocket interaction with the surface.

Other than losing a mission and what we might of learned, how would this set Mars exploration back by decades? How would MSL loss impact on the other Mars missions in the pipeline - Phobos Grunt, MAVEN, ExoMars Orbiter and small lander, or ExoMars rover, the US medium rover sibling to ExoMars?

 

[JonClarke]

Actully, the insanely complex sample processing and analysis equipment scares me as much as the Skycrane.

 

[nimbus]

Dang that thing's huge..

 

[MeteorWayne]

And that kind of the point, and why this new method of landing has been selected. The bouncy balloon thing wouldn't work for something this massive. So this his been chosen (and extensively tested) as the best (highest odds of success) means of getting it to the surface intact. IS it new? Sure. So were the bouncy airbags the first time that was done. So was the method used by Phoenix. Eventually, something has to be first.

 

[kk434]

I think it is wery hard to keep the sky crane stationary in the air and slowly hoist down the MSL, one single wind gust and the whole thing starts to dangle like a pendulum even if the sky crane works perfectly, compare with a helicopter hoisting down cargo, the whole thing swings violently. Secondery a Viking type landing can be a bit hard, do some damage to the landing gear but still work, if the MSL lands a bit hard the wheels will get damaged and game over.

Wasn't it possible to have a standard soft lander to land and then let the MSL roll down a ramp?

 

[JonClarke]

To stop excessive swinging you need to land at a place and time where cross winds are low. This has been a factor in landing site selection regardless of method. Remember too the lander is heavy (900 kg), martian winds are generally weak, an the time for oscillations to build up short.

A hard touchdown by a lander with legs could still disable ramps. Ramps need to be intact and unobstructed to work. The surface of Mars is often rocky, a rock in the wrong place could render a ramp unoperational.

Of course such a design could be built. The Lunakhods used this method, mind you the Moon's surface is less rocky than that of Mars. But a landing platform with legs and ramp would be more massive than a Skycrane, this means a smaller, less capable rover. It would also bring the rocket engines closer to the ground, there are concerns with damage from mobilised debris with the powerful rockets used by such large landers. You would need protection again the debris, which reduces payload further.

Everything is a trade off. Everything is a gamble too in the end. Even if MSL fails it might be for reason that are nothing to do with the Skycrane, even if the Skycrane fails, it does not mean that overal it is a bad approach, it just failed in that instance.

You haven't explained how an MSL failure would set Mars exploration back by decades (other than the obvious loss of data from that part of Mars).

 

[kk434]

About that setback for decades: the twin failure i 1999 of MCO and MPL caused a total reviev of the mars program and for instance the the sample return mission set for 2005 was postponed indefinetly. If MSL (flagship mission) fails that will also result in a very lenghty investigation and usualy thet means delays to other planed missions.

Yes the sky crane enables NASA to land a more capable rower(like you mentioned i your post), but the newer tested aproach for a flagship mision is quite risky.

 

[abq_farside]

I had seen pictures of Curiosity but when seeing it next to the workers, you really get a feel for the size of that thing. It is huge! Largest rover for sure, but what about the stationary landers from the past, it is bigger than them? It this the largest lander to go to Mars or was Phoenix bigger (in terms of weight and size)?

 

[Gravity_Ray]

So Curiousity got its legs... Great! My question is how are these wheels better than the MER wheels? I mean are they lubricated better than MER wheels? Can an individual wheel be lifted if it gets stuck, so that its not going to get dragged if it gets stuck?

I understand that the suspension is the same rocker-bogie as the MER's but this rover needs to land on these wheels, what if the suspension breaks? Do we have a lander then?

 

[abq_farside]

So Curiousity got its legs... Great! My question is how are these wheels better than the MER wheels? I mean are they lubricated better than MER wheels? Can an individual wheel be lifted if it gets stuck, so that its not going to get dragged if it gets stuck?

I understand that the suspension is the same rocker-bogie as the MER's but this rover needs to land on these wheels, what if the suspension breaks? Do we have a lander then?

One would think that stress tests have been performed on the suspension to know exactly how much it can handle. But I would be curious an individual wheel can be lifted if it becomes stuck or unusable.

I am pretty excited to get this thing lifted off and on its way to Mars.

 

[JonClarke]

About that setback for decades: the twin failure i 1999 of MCO and MPL caused a total reviev of the mars program and for instance the the sample return mission set for 2005 was postponed indefinetly. If MSL (flagship mission) fails that will also result in a very lenghty investigation and usualy thet means delays to other planed missions.

What delays? Mars Odyssey still flew in 2001, the MERS in 2003, MRO in 2006. There was no impact at all on Mars Express

The bigest impact was the 2001 Mars Surveyor lander was cancelled, pbut the lander and many of the instruments still used on Phoenix in 2008 and the landing site was investigated by the Opportunity rover in 2004. So no setting back of progreams by decades.

As for Sample Return, that is one of those good ideas that is always 10 years off. Every so often NASA looks at it again and then when the cost becomes apparent, backs off.

Yes the sky crane enables NASA to land a more capable rower(like you mentioned i your post), but the newer tested aproach for a flagship mision is quite risky.

Every flagship mission will em,ply something new and therefore hazardous. Galileo and Cassini for example. Nobody had put a spacecraft in orbit round Jupier or Saturn, or put a descent probe into Jupiter or Titan. We did not even knwo what the surface of Titan was. Viking was incredibly risky. Nobody had successfully landed on Mars, there was no idea of the small scale roughness, the science experiments were very sophisticated and complex.

But you have to manage those hazards until the risks become aceptable. Modelling, tests, critical reviews are all part of that process. I

 

[vulture4]

I think that there was some mission creep. Two smaller rovers would have reduced risk, and launching more often (i.e. two rovers every two years) would have allowed faster design evolution. It's my impression that building two of a new spacecraft only costs a third more than building one.

AS to sample return, it;s simply impossible to learn more today from looking at one sample with a hundred instruments than from looking at a hundred samples with one instrument. The continuing miniaturization of analytical systems makes it almost always a better choice to send more instruments than to bring back samples.