The NASA Langley Mars Tumbleweed Rover Prototype

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antol, Jeffrey; Chattin, Richard L.; Copeland, Benjamin M.; Krizann, Shawn A.

2005-01-01

Mars Tumbleweed is a concept for an autonomous rover that would achieve mobility through use of the natural winds on Mars. The wind-blown nature of this vehicle make it an ideal platform for conducting random surveys of the surface, scouting for signs of past or present life as well as examining the potential habitability of sites for future human exploration. NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) has been studying the dynamics, aerodynamics, and mission concepts of Tumbleweed rovers and has recently developed a prototype Mars Tumbleweed Rover for demonstrating mission concepts and science measurement techniques. This paper will provide an overview of the prototype design, instrumentation to be accommodated, preliminary test results, and plans for future development and testing of the vehicle.

NASA Participates in Mars Day Activities at the National Air and Space Museum

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-07-21

NASA participated in the July 21 Mars Day event at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C. The museum hosts this annual event, which includes exhibits, speakers and educational activities, to celebrate the Red Planet. Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, along with other NASA scientists and engineers, was on hand to talk with visitors about the agency’s Mars exploration missions. There was also a Mars concept rover on display, developed by vehicle designers the Parker Brothers with advice from NASA. The vehicle is currently on an East Coast tour from its home base at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex in Florida. The concept rover is designed to engage and educate the public by demonstrating the types of features and equipment a future human exploration vehicle may need.

Technology Development for NASA Mars Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hayati, Samad

2005-01-01

A viewgraph presentation on technology development for NASA Mars Missions is shown. The topics include: 1) Mars mission roadmaps; 2) Focus and Base Technology programs; 3) Technology Infusion; and 4) Feed Forward to Future Missions.

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden speaks during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The Mars Express/NASA Project at JPL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, T. W.; Horttor, R. L.; Acton, C. H., Jr.; Zamani, P.; Johnson, W. T. K.; Plaut, J. J.; Holmes, D. P.; No, S.; Asmar, S.; Goltz, G.

2006-03-01

The Mars Express/NASA Project at JPL supports much of the U.S. involvement in ESA's Mars Express mission. Mars Express has just completed its prime mission in late 2005 and has embarked on its first extended mission cycle.

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

Robert Lightfoot, NASA Associate Adminstrator, delivers closing remarks at an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Large Parachute for NASA Mars Science Laboratory

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-04-22

The parachute for NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission opens to a diameter of nearly 16 meters 51 feet. This image shows a duplicate qualification-test parachute inside the world's largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. The Mars Science Laboratory will be launched in 2011 for a landing on Mars in 2012. Its parachute is the largest ever built to fly on an extraterrestrial mission. The parachute uses a configuration called disk-gap-band, with 80 suspension lines. Most of the orange and white fabric is nylon, though a small disk of heavier polyester is used near the vent in the apex of the canopy due to higher stresses there. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11994

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

Sam Scimemi, Director of NASA's International Space Station Division, speaks during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

David Miller, NASA Chief Technologist, participate in a panel discussion during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

John Grunsfeld, NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, speaks during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

Jason Crusan, Director of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Division, speaks during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, speaks during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Design, Development and Testing of Airplanes for Mars Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, David W.

2004-01-01

The opportunity for a piggyback mission to Mars aboard an Ariane 5 rocket in the early spring of 1999 set off feverish design activity at several NASA centers. This report describes the contract work done by faculty, students, and consultants at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo California (Cal poly/SLO) to support the NASA/Ames design, construction and test efforts to develop a simple and robust Mars Flyer configuration capable of performing a practical science mission on Mars. The first sections will address the conceptual design of a workable Mars Flyer configuration which started in the spring and summer of 1999. The following sections will focus on construction and flight test of two full-scale vehicles. The final section will reflect on the overall effort and make recommendations for future work.

NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Artist's Concept #2

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-17

This artist's rendition depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover studying a Mars rock outrcrop. The mission will not only seek out and study an area likely to have been habitable in the distant past, but it will take the next, bold step in robotic exploration of the Red Planet by seeking signs of past microbial life itself. Mars 2020 will use powerful instruments to investigate rocks on Mars down to the microscopic scale of variations in texture and composition. It will also acquire and store samples of the most promising rocks and soils that it encounters, and set them aside on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July/August 2020 aboard an Atlas V-541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22105

NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Artist's Concept #4

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-17

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover exploring Mars. The mission will not only seek out and study an area likely to have been habitable in the distant past, but it will take the next, bold step in robotic exploration of the Red Planet by seeking signs of past microbial life itself. Mars 2020 will use powerful instruments to investigate rocks on Mars down to the microscopic scale of variations in texture and composition. It will also acquire and store samples of the most promising rocks and soils that it encounters, and set them aside on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July/August 2020 aboard an Atlas V-541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22107

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

Ellen Stofan, NASA Chief Scientist, left, and David Miller, NASA Chief Technologist, right, participate in a panel discussion during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

Randy Lillard, Program Executive for Technology Demonstration Missions of NASA's Space Technology Mission DIrectorate, speaks during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Mars Science Laboratory Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olson, Tim

2017-01-01

Since August 2012, the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity has been operating on the Martian surface. The primary goal of the MSL mission is to assess whether Mars ever had an environment suitable for life. MSL Science Team member Dr. Tim Olson will provide an overview of the rover's capabilities and the major findings from the mission so far. He will also share some of his experiences of what it is like to operate Curiosity's science cameras and explore Mars as part of a large team of scientists and engineers.

NASA Design Projects at UC Berkeley for NASA's HEDS-UP Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuznetz, Lawrence

1998-01-01

Missions to Mars have been a topic for study since the advent of the space age. But funding has been largely reserved for the unmanned probes such as Viking, Pathfinder and Global Surveyer. Financial and political constraints have relegated human missions, on the other hand, to backroom efforts such as the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) of 1989-1990. With the new found enthusiasm from Pathfinder and the meteorite ALH84001, however, there is renewed interest in human exploration of Mars. This is manifest in the new Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) program that NASA has recently initiated. This program, through its University Projects (HEDS-UP) office has taken the unusual step of soliciting creative solutions from universities. For its part in the HEDS-UP program, the University of California at Berkeley was asked to study the issues of Habitat design, Space Suits for Mars, Environmental Control and Life Support Systems, Countermeasures to Hypogravity and Crew Size/Mix. These topics were investigated as design projects in "Mars by 2012", an on-going class for undergraduates and graduate students. The methodology of study was deemed to be as important as the design projects themselves and for that we were asked to create an Interactive Design Environment. The Interactive Design Environment (IDE) is an electronic "office" that allows scientists and engineers, as well as other interested parties, to interact with and critique engineering designs as they progress. It usually takes the form of a website that creates a "virtual office" environment. That environment is a place where NASA and others can interact with and critique the university designs for potential inclusion in the Mars Design Reference Mission.

Lunar base and Mars base design projects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amos, J.; Campbell, J.; Hudson, C.; Kenny, E.; Markward, D.; Pham, C.; Wolf, C.

1989-01-01

The space design classes at the University of Texas at Austin undertook seven projects in support of the NASA/USRA advanced space design program during the 1988-89 year. A total of 51 students, including 5 graduate students, participated in the design efforts. Four projects were done within the Aerospace Engineering (ASE) design program and three within the Mechanical Engineering (ME) program. Both lunar base and Mars base design efforts were studied, and the specific projects were as follows: Lunar Crew Emergency Rescue Vehicle (ASE); Mars Logistics Lander Convertible to a Rocket Hopper (ME); A Robotically Constructed Production and Supply Base on Phobos (ASE); A Mars/Phobos Transportation System (ASE); Manned Base Design and Related Construction Issues for Mars/Phobos Mission (ME); and Health Care Needs for a Lunar Colony and Design of Permanent Medical Facility (ME).

NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Artist's Concept #7

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-17

NASA's Mars 2020 rover looks at the horizon in this artist's concept. The mission will not only seek out and study an area likely to have been habitable in the distant past, but it will take the next, bold step in robotic exploration of the Red Planet by seeking signs of past microbial life itself. Mars 2020 will use powerful instruments to investigate rocks on Mars down to the microscopic scale of variations in texture and composition. It will also acquire and store samples of the most promising rocks and soils that it encounters, and set them aside on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July/August 2020 aboard an Atlas V-541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22110

NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Artist's Concept #6

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-17

This artist's rendition depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover studying its surroundings. The mission will not only seek out and study an area likely to have been habitable in the distant past, but it will take the next, bold step in robotic exploration of the Red Planet by seeking signs of past microbial life itself. Mars 2020 will use powerful instruments to investigate rocks on Mars down to the microscopic scale of variations in texture and composition. It will also acquire and store samples of the most promising rocks and soils that it encounters, and set them aside on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July/August 2020 aboard an Atlas V-541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22109

NASA Ames Celebrates Curiosity Rover's Landing on Mars (Reporter Package)

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-08

Nearly 7,000 people came to NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., to watch the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity land on Mars. A full day's worth of activities and discussions with local Mars experts informed attendees about the contributions NASA Ames made to the mission. The highlight of the event was the live NASA TV broadcast of MSL's entry, descent and landing on the Martian surface.

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

Randy Lillard, Program Executive for Technology Demonstration Missions of NASA's Space Technology Mission DIrectorate, speaks about the upcoming Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator demonstration during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Trajectory Design for the Phobos and Deimos & Mars Environment Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Genova, Anthony L.; Korsmeyer, David J.; Loucks, Michel E.; Yang, Fan Yang; Lee, Pascal

2016-01-01

The presented trajectory design and analysis was performed for the Phobos and Deimos & Mars Environment (PADME) mission concept as part of a NASA proposal submission managed by NASA Ames Research Center in the 2014-2015 timeframe. The PADME spacecraft would be a derivative of the successfully flown Lunar Atmosphere & Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft. While LADEE was designed to enter low-lunar orbit, the PADME spacecraft would instead enter an elliptical Mars orbit of 2-week period. This Mars orbit would pass by Phobos near periapsis on successive orbits and then raise periapsis to yield close approaches of Deimos every orbit thereafter.

NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Artist's Concept #5

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-17

This artist's concept shows a close-up of NASA's Mars 2020 rover studying an outcrop. The mission will not only seek out and study an area likely to have been habitable in the distant past, but it will take the next, bold step in robotic exploration of the Red Planet by seeking signs of past microbial life itself. Mars 2020 will use powerful instruments to investigate rocks on Mars down to the microscopic scale of variations in texture and composition. It will also acquire and store samples of the most promising rocks and soils that it encounters, and set them aside on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July/August 2020 aboard an Atlas V-541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22108

NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Artist's Concept #3

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-17

This artist's rendition depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover studying rocks with its robotic arm. The mission will not only seek out and study an area likely to have been habitable in the distant past, but it will take the next, bold step in robotic exploration of the Red Planet by seeking signs of past microbial life itself. Mars 2020 will use powerful instruments to investigate rocks on Mars down to the microscopic scale of variations in texture and composition. It will also acquire and store samples of the most promising rocks and soils that it encounters, and set them aside on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July/August 2020 aboard an Atlas V-541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22106

Optimizing Mars Sphere of Influence Maneuvers for NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Merrill, Raymond G.; Komar, D. R.; Chai, Patrick; Qu, Min

2016-01-01

NASA's Human Spaceflight Architecture Team is refining human exploration architectures that will extend human presence to the Martian surface. For both Mars orbital and surface missions, NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign assumes that cargo and crew can be delivered repeatedly to the same destination. Up to this point, interplanetary trajectories have been optimized to minimize the total propulsive requirements of the in-space transportation systems, while the pre-deployed assets and surface systems are optimized to minimize their respective propulsive requirements separate from the in-space transportation system. There is a need to investigate the coupled problem of optimizing the interplanetary trajectory and optimizing the maneuvers within Mars's sphere of influence. This paper provides a description of the ongoing method development, analysis and initial results of the effort to resolve the discontinuity between the interplanetary trajectory and the Mars sphere of influence trajectories. Assessment of Phobos and Deimos orbital missions shows the in-space transportation and crew taxi allocations are adequate for missions in the 2030s. Because the surface site has yet to be selected, the transportation elements must be sized to provide enough capability to provide surface access to all landing sites under consideration. Analysis shows access to sites from elliptical parking orbits with a lander that is designed for sub-periapsis landing location is either infeasible or requires expensive orbital maneuvers for many latitude ranges. In this case the locus of potential arrival perigee vectors identifies the potential maximum north or south latitudes accessible. Higher arrival velocities can decrease reorientation costs and increase landing site availability. Utilizing hyperbolic arrival and departure vectors in the optimization scheme will increase transportation site accessibility and provide more optimal solutions.

Preliminary Surface Thermal Design of the Mars 2020 Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Novak, Keith S.; Kempenaar, Jason G.; Redmond, Matthew J.; Bhandari, Pradeep

2015-01-01

The Mars 2020 rover, scheduled for launch in July 2020, is currently being designed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Mars 2020 rover design is derived from the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, which has been exploring the surface of Mars in Gale Crater for over 2.5 years. The Mars 2020 rover will carry a new science payload made up of 7 instruments. In addition, the Mars 2020 rover is responsible for collecting a sample cache of Mars regolith and rock core samples that could be returned to Earth in a future mission. Accommodation of the new payload and the Sampling Caching System (SCS) has driven significant thermal design changes from the original MSL rover design. This paper describes the similarities and differences between the heritage MSL rover thermal design and the new Mars 2020 thermal design. Modifications to the MSL rover thermal design that were made to accommodate the new payload and SCS are discussed. Conclusions about thermal design flexibility are derived from the Mars 2020 preliminary thermal design experience.

The Mars Express/NASA Project at JPL

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, T. W.; Horttor, R. L.; Acton, C. H., Jr.; Zamani, P.; Johnson, W. T. K.; Plaut, J. J.; Holmes, D. P.; No, S.; Asmar, S.; Goltz, G.

2005-01-01

ESA s Mars Express Mission involves international collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European space agencies with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a junior partner. The primary objective of this mission is to search for hydrologic resources on the surface of Mars. Mars Express was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on June 2, 2003 and arrived at Mars on December 25, 2003. Orbital science observations started in January 2004.

The NASA environmental models of Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaplan, D. I.

1991-01-01

NASA environmental models are discussed with particular attention given to the Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM) and the Mars Terrain simulator. The Mars-GRAM model takes into account seasonal, diurnal, and surface topography and dust storm effects upon the atmosphere. It is also capable of simulating appropriate random density perturbations along any trajectory path through the atmosphere. The Mars Terrain Simulator is a software program that builds pseudo-Martian terrains by layering the effects of geological processes upon one another. Output pictures of the constructed surfaces can be viewed from any vantage point under any illumination conditions. Attention is also given to the document 'Environment of Mars, 1988' in which scientific models of the Martian atmosphere and Martian surface are presented.

NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Artist's Concept #1 (Updated)

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-11-17

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover exploring Mars. The mission will not only seek out and study an area likely to have been habitable in the distant past, but it will take the next, bold step in robotic exploration of the Red Planet by seeking signs of past microbial life itself. Mars 2020 will use powerful instruments to investigate rocks on Mars down to the microscopic scale of variations in texture and composition. It will also acquire and store samples of the most promising rocks and soils that it encounters, and set them aside on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July/August 2020 aboard an Atlas V-541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22111

NASA Facts, Mars as a Planet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC. Educational Programs Div.

Presented is one of a series of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facts about the exploration of Mars. Photographs, showing Mars as seen from Earth through a telescope, show dark markings and polar caps present. Photographs from Mariner 7, Mariner 4, and Mariner 9 are included. Presented is a composite of several Mariner 9…

Newest is Biggest: Three Generations of NASA Mars Rovers

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-11-19

Full-scale models of three generations of NASA Mars rovers show the increase in size from the Sojourner rover of the Mars Pathfinder project, to the twin Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, to the Mars Science Laboratory rover.

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

Sam Scimemi, Director of NASA's International Space Station Division, left, Phil McAlister, Director of NASA's Commercial Spaceflight Division, second from left, Dan Dumbacher, Deputy Associate Administrator of NASA's Exploration Systems Development, center, Michele Gates, Senior Technical Advisor of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, second from right, and Jason Crusan, Director of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Division, right, sit on a panel during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Development of a NASA 2018 Mars Landed Mission Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, M. G.; Salvo, C. G.; Abilleira, F.; Sengstacken, A. J.; Allwood, A. G.; Backes, P. G.; Lindemann, R. A.; Jordan, J. F.

2010-01-01

Fundamental to NASA's Mars Exploration Program (MEP) is an ongoing development of an integrated and coordinated set of possible future candidate missions that meet fundamental science and programmatic objectives of NASA and the Mars scientific community. In the current planning horizon of the NASA MEP, a landed mobile surface exploration mission launching in the 2018 Mars launch opportunity exists as a candidate project to meet MEP in situ science and exploration objectives. This paper describes the proposed mission science objectives and the mission implementation concept developed for the 2018 opportunity. As currently envisioned, this mission concept seeks to explore a yet-to-be-selected site with high preservation potential for physical and chemical biosignatures, evaluate paleoenvironmental conditions, characterize the potential for preservation of biosignatures, and access multiple sequences of geological units in a search for evidence of past life and/or prebiotic chemistry at a site on Mars.

NASA Exploration Forum: Human Path to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-29

Sam Scimemi, Director of NASA's International Space Station Division, second from left, Phil McAlister, Director of NASA's Commercial Spaceflight Division, third from left, Dan Dumbacher, Deputy Associate Administrator of NASA's Exploration Systems Development, center, Michele Gates, Senior Technical Advisor of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, second from right, and Jason Crusan, Director of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Division, right, sit on a panel during an Exploration Forum showcasing NASA's human exploration path to Mars in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Obama sets out NASA's new mission to Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gwynne, Peter

2010-05-01

US President Barack Obama has announced a new direction for NASA that includes plans to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025. Speaking last month at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, the launching location for US manned spaceflights, Obama also called for a new "heavy-lift" rocket design to take astronauts on a mission to orbit Mars by the mid-2030s that will "eventually" be used to transport humans to the Martian surface.

Science Instruments on NASA Mars 2020 Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-06-10

This 2015 diagram shows components of the investigations payload for NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission. Mars 2020 will re-use the basic engineering of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory to send a different rover to Mars, with new objectives and instruments, launching in 2020. The rover will carry seven instruments to conduct its science and exploration technology investigations. They are: Mastcam-Z, an advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability and the ability to zoom. The instrument also will determine mineralogy of the Martian surface and assist with rover operations. The principal investigator is James Bell, Arizona State University in Tempe. SuperCam, an instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy. The instrument will also be able to detect the presence of organic compounds in rocks and regolith from a distance. The principal investigator is Roger Wiens, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. This instrument also has a significant contribution from the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (CNES/IRAP) France. Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer that will also contain an imager with high resolution to determine the fine-scale elemental composition of Martian surface materials. PIXL will provide capabilities that permit more detailed detection and analysis of chemical elements than ever before. The principal investigator is Abigail Allwood, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC), a spectrometer that will provide fine-scale imaging and uses an ultraviolet (UV) laser to determine fine-scale mineralogy and detect organic compounds. SHERLOC will be the first UV Raman spectrometer to fly to the surface of Mars and will provide complementary measurements with other

Nuclear Thermal Rocket/Vehicle Design Options for Future NASA Missions to the Moon and Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Borowski, Stanley K.; Corban, Robert R.; Mcguire, Melissa L.; Beke, Erik G.

1995-01-01

The nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) provides a unique propulsion capability to planners/designers of future human exploration missions to the Moon and Mars. In addition to its high specific impulse (approximately 850-1000 s) and engine thrust-to-weight ratio (approximately 3-10), the NTR can also be configured as a 'dual mode' system capable of generating electrical power for spacecraft environmental systems, communications, and enhanced stage operations (e.g., refrigeration for long-term liquid hydrogen storage). At present the Nuclear Propulsion Office (NPO) is examining a variety of mission applications for the NTR ranging from an expendable, single-burn, trans-lunar injection (TLI) stage for NASA's First Lunar Outpost (FLO) mission to all propulsive, multiburn, NTR-powered spacecraft supporting a 'split cargo-piloted sprint' Mars mission architecture. Each application results in a particular set of requirements in areas such as the number of engines and their respective thrust levels, restart capability, fuel operating temperature and lifetime, cryofluid storage, and stage size. Two solid core NTR concepts are examined -- one based on NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application) derivative reactor (NDR) technology, and a second concept which utilizes a ternary carbide 'twisted ribbon' fuel form developed by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The NDR and CIS concepts have an established technology database involving significant nuclear testing at or near representative operating conditions. Integrated systems and mission studies indicate that clusters of two to four 15 to 25 klbf NDR or CIS engines are sufficient for most of the lunar and Mars mission scenarios currently under consideration. This paper provides descriptions and performance characteristics for the NDR and CIS concepts, summarizes NASA's First Lunar Outpost and Mars mission scenarios, and describes characteristics for representative cargo and piloted vehicles compatible with a

Conceptual design of a Mars transportation system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1992-08-01

In conjunction with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and several major aerospace corporations the University of Minnesota has developed a scenario to place humans on Mars by the year 2016. The project took the form of a year-long design course in the senior design curricula at the University's Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics Department. Students worked with the instructor, teaching assistants and engineers in industry to develop a vehicle and the associated mission profile to fulfill the requirements of the Mars Transportation System. This report is a summary of the final design and the process though which the final product was developed.

Conceptual design of a Mars transportation system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

In conjunction with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and several major aerospace corporations the University of Minnesota has developed a scenario to place humans on Mars by the year 2016. The project took the form of a year-long design course in the senior design curricula at the University's Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics Department. Students worked with the instructor, teaching assistants and engineers in industry to develop a vehicle and the associated mission profile to fulfill the requirements of the Mars Transportation System. This report is a summary of the final design and the process though which the final product was developed.

Benefits of Mars ISRU Regolith Water Processing: A Case Study for the NASA Evolvable Mars Campaign

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kleinhenz, Julie; Paz, Aaron; Mueller, Robert

2016-01-01

ISRU of Mars resources was baselined in 2009 Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0, but only for Oxygen production using atmospheric CO2. The Methane (LCH4) needed for ascent propulsion of the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) would need to be brought from Earth. However: Extracting water from the Martian Regolith enables the production of both Oxygen and Methane from Mars resources: Water resources could also be used for other applications including: Life support, radiation shielding, plant growth, etc. Water extraction was not baselined in DRA5.0 due to perceived difficulties and complexity in processing regolith. The NASA Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) requested studies to look at the quantitative benefits and trades of using Mars water ISRUPhase 1: Examined architecture scenarios for regolith water retrieval. Completed October 2015. Phase 2: Deep dive of one architecture concept to look at end-to-end system size, mass, power of a LCH4/LO2 ISRU production system

Explore Mars from the NASA Website

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhaoyao, Meng

2005-01-01

Here we show how to explore Mars based on data obtainable from the NASA website. The analysis and calculations of some physics questions provide interesting and useful examples of inquiry-based learning.

Arm and Mast of NASA Mars Rover Curiosity

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-04-06

The arm and the remote sensing mast of the Mars rover Curiosity each carry science instruments and other tools for NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission. This image shows the arm on the left and the mast just right of center.

CNES-NASA Studies of the Mars Sample Return Orbiter Aerocapture Phase

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fraysse, H.; Powell, R.; Rousseau, S.; Striepe, S.

2000-01-01

A Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission has been proposed as a joint CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) and NASA effort in the ongoing Mars Exploration Program. The MSR mission is designed to return the first samples of Martian soil to Earth. The primary elements of the mission are a lander, rover, ascent vehicle, orbiter, and an Earth entry vehicle. The Orbiter has been allocated only 2700 kg on the launch phase to perform its part of the mission. This mass restriction has led to the decision to use an aerocapture maneuver at Mars for the orbiter. Aerocapture replaces the initial propulsive capture maneuver with a single atmospheric pass. This atmospheric pass will result in the proper apoapsis, but a periapsis raise maneuver is required at the first apoapsis. The use of aerocapture reduces the total mass requirement by approx. 45% for the same payload. This mission will be the first to use the aerocapture technique. Because the spacecraft is flying through the atmosphere, guidance algorithms must be developed that will autonomously provide the proper commands to reach the desired orbit while not violating any of the design parameters (e.g. maximum deceleration, maximum heating rate, etc.). The guidance algorithm must be robust enough to account for uncertainties in delivery states, atmospheric conditions, mass properties, control system performance, and aerodynamics. To study this very critical phase of the mission, a joint CNES-NASA technical working group has been formed. This group is composed of atmospheric trajectory specialists from CNES, NASA Langley Research Center and NASA Johnson Space Center. This working group is tasked with developing and testing guidance algorithms, as well as cross-validating CNES and NASA flight simulators for the Mars atmospheric entry phase of this mission. The final result will be a recommendation to CNES on the algorithm to use, and an evaluation of the flight risks associated with the algorithm. This paper will describe the

ExoMars/TGO Science Orbit Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Long, Stacia; Lyons, Dan; Guinn, Joe; Lock, Rob

2012-01-01

This paper describes the development of the science orbit for the 2016 ESA/NASA collaborative ExoMars/Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission. The initial requirements for the ExoMars/TGO mission simply described the science orbit as circular with a 400 km altitude and a 74 deg inclination. Over the past year, the JPL mission design team worked with the TGO science teams to refine the science orbit requirements and recommend an orbit that would be operationally feasible, easy to maintain, and most important allow the science teams to best meet their objectives.

Mission to Mars: Connecting Diverse Student Groups with NASA Experts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polsgrove, Tara; Jones, David; Sadowski-Fugitt, Leslie; Kowrach, Nicole

2012-01-01

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has formulated an innovative approach to inspiring the next generation to pursue STEM education. Middle school students in Chicago and at nearby Challenger Learning Centers work in teams to design a mission to Mars. Each mission includes real time access to NASA experts through partnerships with Marshall Space Flight Center, Johnson Space Center, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Interactive videoconferencing connects students at the museum with students at a Challenger Learning Center and with NASA experts. This paper describes the approach, the results from the program s first year, and future opportunities for nationwide expansion.

NASA Facts, Mars and Earth.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC. Educational Programs Div.

Presented is one of a series of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facts about the exploration of Mars. In this publication, emphasis is placed on the sun's planetary system with note made that there is no one theory for the origin and subsequent evolution of the Solar System that is generally accepted. Ideas from many scientists…

NASA/Haughton-Mars Project 2006 Lunar Medical Contingency Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scheuring, Richard A.; Jones, J. A.; Lee, P.; Comtois, J. M.; Chappell, S.; Rafiq, A.; Braham, S.

2007-01-01

A viewgraph presentation describing NASA's Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) medical requirements and lunar surface operations is shown. The topics onclude: 1) Mission Purpose/ Overview; 2) HMP as a Moon/Mars Analog; 3) Simulation objectives; 4) Discussion; and 5) Forward work.

Tenth Anniversary Image from Camera on NASA Mars Orbiter

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-02-29

NASA Mars Odyssey spacecraft captured this image on Feb. 19, 2012, 10 years to the day after the camera recorded its first view of Mars. This image covers an area in the Nepenthes Mensae region north of the Martian equator.

Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drake, Bret G.

2010-01-01

This paper provides a summary of the Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 (DRA 5.0), which is the latest in a series of NASA Mars reference missions. It provides a vision of one potential approach to human Mars exploration. The reference architecture provides a common framework for future planning of systems concepts, technology development, and operational testing as well as Mars robotic missions, research that is conducted on the International Space Station, and future lunar exploration missions. This summary the Mars DRA 5.0 provides an overview of the overall mission approach, surface strategy and exploration goals, as well as the key systems and challenges for the first three human missions to Mars.

Ablative Heat Shield Studies for NASA Mars/Earth Return Entry Vehicles

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-09-01

RETURN ENTRY VEHICLES by Michael K. Hamm September, 1990 NASA Thesis Advisor: William D. Henline Thesis Co-Advisor: Max F. Platzer Approved for public...STUDIES FOR NASA MARS/EARTH RETURN ENTRY VEHICLES (UNCLASSIFIED) 12. PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) Harm, Michael, K. 13a TYPE OF REPORT 13b TIME COVERED 14 DATE OF...theoretical values. The tests were performed to ascertain if RSI type materials could be used for entry vehicles proposed in NASA Mars missions. 20

MarCOs, Mars and Earth

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-29

An artist's rendering of the twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft flying over Mars with Earth in the distance. The MarCOs will be the first CubeSats -- a kind of modular, mini-satellite -- flown in deep space. They're designed to fly along behind NASA's InSight lander on its cruise to Mars. If they make the journey, they will test a relay of data about InSight's entry, descent and landing back to Earth. Though InSight's mission will not depend on the success of the MarCOs, they will be a test of how CubeSats can be used in deep space. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22316

NASA's strategy for Mars exploration in the 1990s and beyond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huntress, W. T.; Feeley, T. J.; Boyce, J. M.

NASA's Office of Space Science is changing its approach to all its missions, both current and future. Budget realities are necessitating that we change the way we do business and the way we look at NASA's role in the U.S. Government. These challenges are being met by a new and innovative approach that focuses on achieving a balanced world-class space science program that requires less U.S. resources while providing an enhanced role for technology and education as integral components of our Research and Development (R&D) programs. Our Mars exploration plans, especially the Mars Surveyor program, are a key feature of this new NASA approach to space science. The Mars Surveyor program will be affordable, engaging to the public with global and close-up images of Mars, have high scientific value, employ a distributed risk strategy (two launches per opportunity), and will use significant advanced technologies.

Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drake, Bret G.; Hoffman, Stephen J.; Beaty, David W.

2009-01-01

This paper provides a summary of the 2007 Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 (DRA 5.0), which is the latest in a series of NASA Mars reference missions. It provides a vision of one potential approach to human Mars exploration including how Constellation systems can be used. The reference architecture provides a common framework for future planning of systems concepts, technology development, and operational testing as well as Mars robotic missions, research that is conducted on the International Space Station, and future lunar exploration missions. This summary the Mars DRA 5.0 provides an overview of the overall mission approach, surface strategy and exploration goals, as well as the key systems and challenges for the first three human missions to Mars.

Artist Rendering of NASA Dawn Spacecraft Approaching Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-05-23

Artist rendering of NASA's Dawn spacecraft approaching Mars. Dawn, part of NASA's Discovery Program of competitively selected missions, was launched in 2007 to orbit the large asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The two bodies have very different properties from each other. By observing them both with the same set of instruments, Dawn will probe the early solar system and specify the properties of each body. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18152

Mars Equipment Transport System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sorrells, Cindy; Geiger, Michelle; Ohanlon, Sean; Pieloch, Stuart; Brogan, Nick

1993-01-01

Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Project 1 (ME4182) is a part of the NASA/University Advanced Design Program. Under this program, NASA allocates money and resources to students to be used in design work for a specified topic. The current topic is the exploration and colonization of Mars. The specific area in which we are to work is the transportation of the modules in which astronauts will live while on Mars. NASA is concerned about the weight of the module transferring system, as the shipping cost to Mars is quite expensive. NASA has specified that the weight of the system is to be minimized in order to reduce the shipping costs.

Journey to Mars Update on This Week @NASA – September 30, 2016

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-09-30

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden joined other leaders of the world’s space agencies to discuss the latest technological breakthroughs and developments in space exploration at the 67th International Astronautical Congress, Sept. 26-30th in Guadalajara, Mexico. At the event, NASA discussed new elements to its multi-phase Journey to Mars to extend the human footprint all the way to the Red Planet. NASA will continue operations aboard the International Space Station through 2024. Work currently underway aboard the station to encourage commercial development of low-Earth orbit, develop deep space systems, life support and human health is part of the Earth Reliant phase of the Journey to Mars. In the 2020s, during the Proving Ground phase when NASA steps out farther, the agency now plans to send an astronaut crew on a yearlong mission to a deep space destination near the moon. They will conduct activities to verify habitation and test our readiness for Mars. A round-trip robotic Mars sample return mission is being targeted for the 2020s, as part of the Earth Independent phase before finally sending humans on a mission to orbit Mars in the early 2030s. Also, Zurbuchen Named Head of NASA Science, Hubble Spots Possible Water Plumes on Europa, Rosetta’s Mission Ends, and Armstrong Celebrates 70 Years of Flight Research!

Mid-2017 Map of NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-07-11

This map shows the route driven by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, from the location where it landed in August 2012 to its location in July 2017, and its planned path to additional geological layers of lower Mount Sharp. The blue star near top center marks "Bradbury Landing," the site where Curiosity arrived on Mars on Aug. 5, 2012, PDT (Aug. 6, EDT and Universal Time). Blue triangles mark waypoints investigated by Curiosity on the floor of Gale Crater and, starting with "Pahrump Hills," on Mount Sharp. The Sol 1750 label identifies the rover's location on July 9, 2017, the 1,750th Martian day, or sol, since the landing. In July 2017, the mission is examining "Vera Rubin Ridge" from the downhill side of the ridge. Spectrometry observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have detected hematite, an iron-oxide mineral, in the ridge. Curiosity's planned route continues to the top of the ridge and then to geological units where clay minerals and sulfate minerals have been detected from orbit. The base image for the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. North is up. "Bagnold Dunes" form a band of dark, wind-blown material at the foot of Mount Sharp. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21720

NASA Today - Mars Observer Segment (Part 4 of 6)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This videotape consists of eight segments from the NASA Today News program. The first segment is an announcement that there was no date set for the launch of STS-51, which had been postponed due to mechanical problems. The second segment describes the MidDeck Dynamic Experiment Facility. The third segment is about the scheduled arrival of the Mars Observer at Mars, it shows an image of Mars as seen from the approaching Observer spacecraft, and features an animation of the approach to Mars, including the maneuvers that are planned to put the spacecraft in the desired orbit. The fourth segment describes a discovery from an infrared spectrometer that there is nitrogen ice on Pluto. The fifth segment discusses the Aerospace for Kids (ASK) program at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The sixth segment is about the high school and college summer internship programs at GSFC. The seventh segment announces a science symposium being held at Johnson Space Center. The last segment describes the National Air and Space Museum and NASA's cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution.

A Phobos-Deimos Mission as an Element of the NASA Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffman, Stephen J.

2011-01-01

NASA has conducted a series of mission studies over the past 25 years examining the eventual exploration of the surface of Mars by humans. The latest version of this evolutionary series of design reference missions/architectures - Design Reference Architecture 5 or DRA-5 - was completed in 2007. This paper examines the implications of including a human mission to explore the moons of Mars and teleoperate robots in various locations, but not to land the human crews on Mars, as an element of this reference architecture. Such a mission has been proposed several times during this same 25 year evolution leading up to the completion of DRA-5 primarily as a mission of testing the in-space vehicles and operations while surface vehicles and landers are under development. But such a precursor or test mission has never been explicitly included as an element of this Architecture. This paper will first summarize the key features of the DRA-5 to provide context for the remainder of the assessment. This will include a description of the in-space vehicles that would be the subject of a shakedown test during the Mars orbital mission. A decision tree will be used to illustrate the factors that will be analyzed, and the sequence in which they will be addressed, for this assessment. The factors that will be analyzed include the type of interplanetary transfer orbit (opposition class versus conjunction class), the type of parking orbit (circular versus elliptical), and the type of propulsion technology (high thrust chemical versus nuclear thermal rocket). The manner in which each of these factors impacts an individual mission will be described. In addition to the direct impact of these factors, additional considerations impacting crew health and overall programmatic outcomes will be discussed. Numerical results for each of the factors in the decision tree will be grouped with derived qualitative impacts from crew health and programmatic consideration. These quantitative and qualitative

The Collaborative Information Portal and NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mak, Ronald; Walton, Joan

2005-01-01

The Collaborative Information Portal was enterprise software developed jointly by the NASA Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. Mission managers, engineers, scientists, and researchers used this Internet application to view current staffing and event schedules, download data and image files generated by the rovers, receive broadcast messages, and get accurate times in various Mars and Earth time zones. This article describes the features, architecture, and implementation of this software, and concludes with lessons we learned from its deployment and a look towards future missions.

Mars Science Laboratory Propulsive Maneuver Design and Execution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wong, Mau C.; Kangas, Julie A.; Ballard, Christopher G.; Gustafson, Eric D.; Martin-Mur, Tomas J.

2012-01-01

The NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, was launched on November 26, 2011 and successfully landed at the Gale Crater on Mars. For the 8-month interplanetary trajectory from Earth to Mars, five nominal and two contingency trajectory correction maneuvers (TCM) were planned. The goal of these TCMs was to accurately deliver the spacecraft to the desired atmospheric entry aimpoint in Martian atmosphere so as to ensure a high probability of successful landing on the Mars surface. The primary mission requirements on maneuver performance were the total mission propellant usage and the entry flight path angle (EFPA) delivery accuracy. They were comfortably met in this mission. In this paper we will describe the spacecraft propulsion system, TCM constraints and requirements, TCM design processes, and their implementation and verification.

Design of a fast Mars space transfer system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woo, Henry H.; Glass, James F.; Roy, Claude

1992-02-01

Architecture strategies and concepts for manned missions to Mars are being developed by NASA and industry. This paper addresses the key Mars transfer vehicle (MTV) design requirements which include surface payload mass, MTV mass, propulsion system characteristics, launch vehicle capability, in-space operations, abort considerations, crew exposure to interplanetary environments, and crew reconditioning for planetary entry. Different mission strategies are presented along with their implications. A representative artificial-g MTV using nuclear thermal propulsion is defined to show concepts which minimize extravehicular activity operations for in-space assembly, inspection, and maintenance.

Advance Inspection of NASA Next Mars Landing Site

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-03-29

This map shows footprints of images taken from Mars orbit by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera as part of advance analysis of the area where NASA's InSight mission will land in 2018. The final planned image of the set is targeted to fill in the yellow-outlined rectangle on March 30, 2017. HiRISE is one of six science instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which reached Mars in 2006 and surpassed 50,000 orbits on March 27, 2017. The map covers an area about 100 miles (160 kilometers) across. HiRISE has been used since 2006 to inspect dozens of candidate landing sites on Mars, including the sites where the Phoenix and Curiosity missions landed in 2008 and 2012. The site selected for InSight's Nov. 26, 2018, landing is on a flat plain in the Elysium Planitia region of Mars, between 4 and 5 degrees north of the equator. HiRISE images are detailed enough to reveal individual boulders big enough to be a landing hazard. The March 30 observation that completes the planned advance imaging of this landing area brings the number of HiRISE images of the area to 73. Some are pairs covering the same ground. Overlapping observations provide stereoscopic, 3-D information for evaluating characteristics such as slopes. On this map, coverage by stereo pairs is coded in pale blue, compared to the gray-green of single HiRISE image footprints. The ellipses on the map are about 81 miles (130 kilometers) west-to-east by about 17 miles (27 kilometers) north-to-south. InSight has about 99 percent odds of landing within the ellipse for which it is targeted. The three ellipses indicate landing expectations for three of the possible InSight launch dates: white outline for launch at the start of the launch period, on May 5, 2018; blue for launch on May 26, 2018; orange for launch on June 8, 2018. InSight -- an acronym for "Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport" -- will study the deep interior of Mars to improve

NASA's Phoenix Lander on Mars, Nearly a Decade Later

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-02-20

This is one of two images taken nearly a decade apart of NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander and related hardware around the mission's May 25, 2008, landing site on far-northern Mars. By late 2017, dust had obscured much of what was visible two months after the landing. Both images were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The one with three patches of darker ground -- where landing events removed dust -- was taken on July 20, 2008. It is Fig. 1, an excerpt of HiRISE observation PSP_009290_2485. The one with a more even coating of pale dust throughout the area was taken on Dec. 21, 2017. It is Fig. 2, an excerpt of HiRISE observation ESP_053451_2485. Both cover an area roughly 300 meters wide at 68 degrees north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude, and the two are closely matched in viewing and illumination geometry, from about five Martian years apart in northern hemisphere summers. An animation comparing the two images shows a number of changes between mid-2008 and late 2017. The lander (top) appears darker, and is now covered by dust. The dark spot created by the heat shield impact (right) is brighter, again due to dust deposition. The back shell and parachute (bottom) shows a darker parachute and brighter area of impact disturbance, thanks again to deposits of dust. We also see that the parachute has shifted in the wind, moving to the east. In August 2008, Phoenix completed its three-month mission studying Martian ice, soil and atmosphere. The lander worked for two additional months before reduced sunlight caused energy to become insufficient to keep the lander functioning. The solar-powered robot was not designed to survive through the dark and cold conditions of a Martian arctic winter. An animation and both images are available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22223

PADME (Phobos And Deimos & Mars Environment): A Proposed NASA Discovery Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Pascal

2014-11-01

Ever the since their discovery in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall, the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, have been enigmas. Spacecraft missions have revealed irregular-shaped small bodies with different densities, morphologies, and evolutionary histories. Spectral data suggest that they might be akin to D-type asteroids, although compositional interpretations of the spectra are ambiguous. The origin of Phobos and Deimos remains unknown. There are three prevailing hypotheses for their origin: 1) They are captured asteroids, possibly primitive D-type bodies from the outer main belt or beyond; 2) They are reaccreted impact ejecta from Mars; 3) They are remnants of Mars’s formation. Each one of these hypotheses has radically different and important implications regarding the evolution of the solar system, and/or the formation and evolution of planets and satellites, including the delivery of water and organics to the inner solar system. The Phobos And Deimos & Mars Environment (PADME) mission is a proposed NASA Discovery mission that will test these hypotheses, by investigating simultaneously the internal structure of Phobos and Deimos, and the composition and dynamics of their surface and near-surface materials. PADME would launch in 2020 and reach Mars orbit in early 2021. PADME would then begin a series of slow and increasingly close flybys of Phobos first, then of Deimos. PADME would use the proven LADEE spacecraft and mature instrument systems to enable a low-cost and low risk approach to carrying out its investigation. In addition to achieving its scientific objectives, PADME would fill strategic knowledge gaps identified by NASA’s SBAG and HEOMD for planning future, more ambitious robotic landed or sample return missions to Phobos and/or Deimos, and eventual human missions to Mars Orbit. PADME would be built, managed, and operated by NASA Ames Research Center. Partners include the SETI Institute, NASA JPL, NASA GSFC, NASA JSC, NASA KSC, LASP

NASA Software Lets You Explore Mars, the Asteroid Vesta and the Moon

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-10-06

NASA wants you to use your web browser to explore Mars, the Moon and the asteroid Vesta! The three portals are some of NASA's planetary mapping and modeling web portals. It makes it easy for mission planners, scientists, students and the public to visualize details on the surface of Mars, the Moon and Vesta, as seen with a variety of instruments aboard a number of spacecraft.

NASA Facts, Mars as a Member of the Solar System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC. Educational Programs Div.

Presented is one of a series of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facts about the exploration of Mars. In this publication, emphasis is placed on the planet Mars as a member of the Solar System and a detailed description is given related to historical accounts of the planet's existence and its travels. The physical…

Entry System Design Considerations for Mars Landers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lockwood, Mary Kae; Powell, Richard W.; Graves, Claude A.; Carman, Gilbert L.

2001-01-01

The objective for the next generation or Mars landers is to enable a safe landing at specific locations of scientific interest. The 1st generation entry, descent and landing systems, ex. Viking and Pathfinder, provided successful landing on Mars but by design were limited to large scale, 100s of km, landing sites with minimal local hazards. The 2 nd generation landers, or smart landers, will provide scientists with access to previously unachievable landing sites by providing precision landing to less than 10 km of a target landing site, with the ability to perform local hazard avoidance, and provide hazard tolerance. This 2nd generation EDL system can be utilized for a range of robotic missions with vehicles sized for science payloads from the small 25-70 kg, Viking, Pathfinder, Mars Polar Lander and Mars Exploration Rover-class, to the large robotic Mars Sample Return, 300 kg plus, science payloads. The 2nd generation system can also be extended to a 3nd generation EDL system with pinpoint landing, 10's of meters of landing accuracy, for more capable robotic or human missions. This paper will describe the design considerations for 2nd generation landers. These landers are currently being developed by a consortium of NASA centers, government agencies, industry and academic institutions. The extension of this system and additional considerations required for a 3nd generation human mission to Mars will be described.

Human Exploration of Mars: The Reference Mission of the NASA Mars Exploration Study Team

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoffman, Stephen J.; Kaplan, David I.

1997-07-01

Personnel representing several NASA field centers have formulated a "Reference Mission" addressing human exploration of Mars. This report summarizes their work and describes a plan for the first human missions to Mars, using approaches that are technically feasible, have reasonable risks, and have relatively low costs. The architecture for the Mars Reference Mission builds on previous work of the Synthesis Group (1991) and Zubrin's (1991) concepts for the use of propellants derived from the Martian Atmosphere. In defining the Reference Mission, choices have been made. In this report, the rationale for each choice is documented; however, unanticipated technology advances or political decisions might change the choices in the future.

Human Exploration of Mars: The Reference Mission of the NASA Mars Exploration Study Team

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffman, Stephen J. (Editor); Kaplan, David I. (Editor)

1997-01-01

Personnel representing several NASA field centers have formulated a "Reference Mission" addressing human exploration of Mars. This report summarizes their work and describes a plan for the first human missions to Mars, using approaches that are technically feasible, have reasonable risks, and have relatively low costs. The architecture for the Mars Reference Mission builds on previous work of the Synthesis Group (1991) and Zubrin's (1991) concepts for the use of propellants derived from the Martian Atmosphere. In defining the Reference Mission, choices have been made. In this report, the rationale for each choice is documented; however, unanticipated technology advances or political decisions might change the choices in the future.

Design of a Controllable Weather Balloon to Fly on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivie, Benjamin

As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) moves closer towards placing humans on Mars, prediction of the weather on the planet becomes more vital to ensure the safety of the astronauts. Currently on Mars NASA has land based weather stations on the rovers and a few satellites orbiting the planet that help to predict the weather. They also use Earth based telescopes to look at the Martian atmosphere similar to what an orbiting satellite would [1]. These resources provide information about what the weather is like on the surface and what the weather looks like from space but there is little information from inside the atmosphere. Having a device that can fly through the atmosphere and collect data would enable scientists to generate more accurate models of the weather on Mars. Another use for these devices could be to get aerial photographs of the planet, which could help to determine possible sites for future exploration. Also the Martian air could be collected and analyzed to determine its composition and whether there could be any airborne signs of life. The research presented in this thesis is a first step towards designing a device to fly on Mars and take weather data. A lifting type is selected and through test flights on Earth the design is modified until a workable platform for flight testing is achieved. Once it is determined, the design is scaled to be able to fly in the Martian atmosphere.

NASA Mars Rover Curiosity at JPL, Side View

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-04-06

The rover for NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission, named Curiosity, is about 3 meters 10 feet long, not counting the additional length that the rover arm can be extended forward. The front of the rover is on the left in this side view.

A concept for NASA's Mars 2016 astrobiology field laboratory.

PubMed

Beegle, Luther W; Wilson, Michael G; Abilleira, Fernando; Jordan, James F; Wilson, Gregory R

2007-08-01

The Mars Program Plan includes an integrated and coordinated set of future candidate missions and investigations that meet fundamental science objectives of NASA and the Mars Exploration Program (MEP). At the time this paper was written, these possible future missions are planned in a manner consistent with a projected budget profile for the Mars Program in the next decade (2007-2016). As with all future missions, the funding profile depends on a number of factors that include the exact cost of each mission as well as potential changes to the overall NASA budget. In the current version of the Mars Program Plan, the Astrobiology Field Laboratory (AFL) exists as a candidate project to determine whether there were (or are) habitable zones and life, and how the development of these zones may be related to the overall evolution of the planet. The AFL concept is a surface exploration mission equipped with a major in situ laboratory capable of making significant advancements toward the Mars Program's life-related scientific goals and the overarching Vision for Space Exploration. We have developed several concepts for the AFL that fit within known budget and engineering constraints projected for the 2016 and 2018 Mars mission launch opportunities. The AFL mission architecture proposed here assumes maximum heritage from the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). Candidate payload elements for this concept were identified from a set of recommendations put forth by the Astrobiology Field Laboratory Science Steering Group (AFL SSG) in 2004, for the express purpose of identifying overall rover mass and power requirements for such a mission. The conceptual payload includes a Precision Sample Handling and Processing System that would replace and augment the functionality and capabilities provided by the Sample Acquisition Sample Processing and Handling system that is currently part of the 2009 MSL platform.

Probing below the Surface of Mars. ITEA/NASA-JPL Learning Activity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Urquhart, Mary; Urquhart, Sally

2000-01-01

This activity, developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, involves students in recording and graphing temperature data to learn about NASA's Mars Microprobe Mission, Deep Space 2, and how the properties of a material affect the transfer of heat. (Author/JOW)

Mission and Design Sensitivities for Human Mars Landers Using Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polsgrove, Tara P.; Thomas, Herbert D.; Dwyer Ciancio, Alicia; Collins, Tim; Samareh, Jamshid

2017-01-01

Landing humans on Mars is one of NASA's long term goals. NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) is focused on evaluating architectural trade options to define the capabilities and elements needed to sustain human presence on the surface of Mars. The EMC study teams have considered a variety of in-space propulsion options and surface mission options. Understanding how these choices affect the performance of the lander will allow a balanced optimization of this complex system of systems problem. This paper presents the effects of mission and vehicle design options on lander mass and performance. Beginning with Earth launch, options include fairing size assumptions, co-manifesting elements with the lander, and Earth-Moon vicinity operations. Capturing into Mars orbit using either aerocapture or propulsive capture is assessed. For entry, descent, and landing both storable as well as oxygen and methane propellant combinations are considered, engine thrust level is assessed, and sensitivity to landed payload mass is presented. This paper focuses on lander designs using the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators, one of several entry system technologies currently considered for human missions.

Mars Trek: An Interactive Web Portal for Current and Future Missions to Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Law, E.; Day, B.

2017-01-01

NASA's Mars Trek (https://marstrek.jpl.nasa.gov) provides a web-based Portal and a suite of interactive visualization and analysis tools to enable mission planners, lunar scientists, and engineers to access mapped data products from past and current missions to Mars. During the past year, the capabilities and data served by Mars Trek have been significantly expanded beyond its original design as a public outreach tool. At the request of NASA's Science Mission Directorate and Human Exploration Operations Mission Directorate, Mars Trek's technology and capabilities are now being extended to support site selection and analysis activities for the first human missions to Mars.

Mars Trek: An Interactive Web Portal for Current and Future Missions to Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Law, E.; Day, B.

2017-09-01

NASA's Mars Trek (https://marstrek.jpl.nasa.gov) provides a web-based Portal and a suite of interactive visualization and analysis tools to enable mission planners, lunar scientists, and engineers to access mapped data products from past and current missions to Mars. During the past year, the capabilities and data served by Mars Trek have been significantly expanded beyond its original design as a public outreach tool. At the request of NASA's Science Mission Directorate and Human Exploration Operations Mission Directorate, Mars Trek's technology and capabilities are now being extended to support site selection and analysis activities for the first human missions to Mars.

Mars Rover Concept Vehicle

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-06-05

Crowds gather around the scientifically-themed Mars rover concept vehicle at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. It is a part of the "Summer of Mars" program designed to provide a survey of NASA's studies of the Red Planet. The builders of the rover, Parker Brothers Concepts of Port Canaveral, Florida, incorporated input into its design from NASA subject matter experts.

Architectural Design for a Mars Communications and Navigation Orbital Infrastructure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ceasrone R. J.; Hastrup, R. C.; Bell, D. J.; Roncoli, R. B.; Nelson, K.

1999-01-01

The planet Mars has become the focus of an intensive series of missions that span decades of time, a wide array of international agencies and an evolution from robotics to humans. The number of missions to Mars at any one time, and over a period of time, is unprecedented in the annals of space exploration. To meet the operational needs of this exploratory fleet will require the implementation of new architectural concepts for communications and navigation. To this end, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has begun to define and develop a Mars communications and navigation orbital infrastructure. This architecture will make extensive use of assets at Mars, as well as use of traditional Earth-based assets, such as the Deep Space Network, DSN. Indeed, the total system can be thought of as an extension of DSN nodes and services to the Mars in-situ region. The concept has been likened to the beginnings of an interplanetary Internet that will bring the exploration of Mars right into our living rooms. The paper will begin with a high-level overview of the concept for the Mars communications and navigation infrastructure. Next, the mission requirements will be presented. These will include the relatively near-term needs of robotic landers, rovers, ascent vehicles, balloons, airplanes, and possibly orbiting, arriving and departing spacecraft. Requirements envisioned for the human exploration of Mars will also be described. The important Mars orbit design trades on telecommunications and navigation capabilities will be summarized, and the baseline infrastructure will be described. A roadmap of NASA's plan to evolve this infrastructure over time will be shown. Finally, launch considerations and delivery to Mars will be briefly treated.

The Thermal Infrared Sensor onboard NASA's Mars 2020 Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinez, G.; Perez-Izquierdo, J.; Sebastian, E.; Ramos, M.; Bravo, A.; Mazo, M.; Rodriguez-Manfredi, J. A.

2017-12-01

NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission is scheduled for launch in July/August 2020 and will address key questions about the potential for life on Mars. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) is one of the seven instruments onboard the rover [1] and has been designed to assess the environmental conditions across the rover traverse. MEDA will extend the current record of in-situ meteorological measurements at the surface [2] to other locations on Mars. The Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) [3] is one of the six sensors comprising MEDA. TIRS will use three downward-looking channels to measure (1) the surface skin temperature (with high heritage from the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station onboard the Mars Science Laboratory mission [4]), (2) the upwelling thermal infrared radiation from the surface and (3) the reflected solar radiation at the surface, and two upward-looking channels to measure the (4) downwelling thermal infrared radiation at the surface and (5) the atmospheric temperature. In combination with other MEDA's sensors, TIRS will allow the quantification of the surface energy budget [5] and the determination of key geophysical properties of the terrain such as the albedo and thermal inertia with an unprecedented spatial resolution. Here we present a general description of the TIRS, with focus on its scientific requirements and results from field campaigns showing the performance of the different channels. References:[1] Rodríguez-Manfredi, J. A. et al. (2014), MEDA: An environmental and meteorological package for Mars 2020, LPSC, 45, 2837. [2] Martínez, G.M. et al. (2017), The Modern Near-Surface Martian Climate: A Review of In-situ Meteorological Data from Viking to Curiosity, Space Science Reviews, 1-44. [3] Pérez-Izquierdo, J. et al. (2017), The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) of the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) Instrument onboard Mars 2020, IEEE. [4] Sebastián, E. et al. (2010), The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station Ground

Mars Lander Deck of NASA's InSight Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-08-28

This view looks upward toward the InSight Mars lander suspended upside down. It shows the top of the lander's science deck with the mission's two main science instruments -- the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) and the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Probe (HP3) -- plus the robotic arm and other subsystems installed. The photo was taken Aug. 9, 2017, in a Lockheed Martin clean room facility in Littleton, Colorado. The InSight mission (for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is scheduled to launch in May 2018 and land on Mars Nov. 26, 2018. It will investigate processes that formed and shaped Mars and will help scientists better understand the evolution of our inner solar system's rocky planets, including Earth. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21847

Mars Sample Return: Do Australians trust NASA?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joyce, S.; Tomkins, C. S.; Weinstein, P.

2008-09-01

Mars Sample Return (MSR) represents an important scientific goal in space exploration. Any sample return mission will be extremely challenging from a scientific, economic and technical standpoint. But equally testing, will be communicating with a public that may have a very different perception of the mission. A MSR mission will generate international publicity and it is vital that NASA acknowledge the nature and extent of public concern about the mission risks and, perhaps equally importantly, the public’s confidence in NASA’s ability to prepare for and manage these risks. This study investigated the level of trust in NASA in an Australian population sample, and whether this trust was dependent on demographic variables. Participants completed an online survey that explored their attitudes towards NASA and a MSR mission. The results suggested that people believe NASA will complete the mission successfully but have doubts as to whether NASA will be honest when communicating with the public. The most significant finding to emerge from this study was that confidence in NASA was significantly (p < 0.05) related to the respondent’s level of knowledge regarding the risks and benefits of MSR. These results have important implications for risk management and communication.

MarCO CubeSat Engineers 3

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-20

Engineers for NASA's MarCO (Mars Cube One) technology demonstration inspect one of the two MarCO CubeSats. Joel Steinkraus, MarCO lead mechanical engineer, left, and Andy Klesh, MarCO chief engineer, are on the team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, preparing twin MarCO CubeSats. The briefcase-size MarCO twins were designed to ride along with NASA's next Mars lander, InSight. Its planned March 2016 launch was suspended. InSight -- an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20343

Methane Measurements by NASA Curiosity in Mars Gale Crater

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-12-16

This graphic shows tenfold spiking in the abundance of methane in the Martian atmosphere surrounding NASA Curiosity Mars rover, as detected by a series of measurements made with the Tunable Laser Spectrometer instrument in the rover laboratory suite.

Building Operations Efficiencies into NASA's Crew Launch Vehicle Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dumbacher, Daniel L.

2006-01-01

The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration guides NASA's challenging missions of technological innovation and scientific investigation. With the Agency's commitment to complete the International Space Station (ISS) and to retire the Space Shuttle by 2010, the NASA Administrator commissioned the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) in mid 2005 to analyze options for a safer, simpler, more cost efficient launch system that could deliver timely human-rated space transportation capabilities. NASA's finite resources yield discoveries with infinite possibilities. As the Agency begins the process of replacing the Shuttle with new launch vehicles destined for missions beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, NASA is designing the follow-on crew and cargo systems for maximum operational efficiencies. This mandate is imperative to reduce the $4.5 billion NASA spends on space transportation each year. This paper gives top-level details of how the follow-on Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) is being designed for reduced lifecycle costs as a primary catalyst for the expansion of future frontiers.

Nuclear Thermal Rocket/Vehicle Characteristics And Sensitivity Trades For NASA's Mars Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0 Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Borowski, Stanley K.; McCurdy, David R.; Packard, Thomas W.

2009-01-01

This paper summarizes Phase I and II analysis results from NASA's recent Mars DRA 5.0 study which re-examined mission, payload and transportation system requirements for a human Mars landing mission in the post-2030 timeframe. Nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) propulsion was again identified as the preferred in-space transportation system over chemical/aerobrake because of its higher specific impulse (I(sub sp)) capability, increased tolerance to payload mass growth and architecture changes, and lower total initial mass in low Earth orbit (IMLEO) which is important for reducing the number of Ares-V heavy lift launches and overall mission cost. DRA 5.0 features a long surface stay (approximately 500 days) split mission using separate cargo and crewed Mars transfer vehicles (MTVs). All vehicles utilize a common core propulsion stage with three 25 klbf composite fuel NERVA-derived NTR engines (T(sub ex) approximately 2650 - 2700 K, p(sub ch) approximately 1000 psia, epsilon approximately 300:1, I(sub sp) approximately 900 - 910 s, engine thrust-toweight ratio approximately 3.43) to perform all primary mission maneuvers. Two cargo flights, utilizing 1-way minimum energy trajectories, pre-deploy a cargo lander to the surface and a habitat lander into a 24-hour elliptical Mars parking orbit where it remains until the arrival of the crewed MTV during the next mission opportunity (approximately 26 months later). The cargo payload elements aerocapture (AC) into Mars orbit and are enclosed within a large triconicshaped aeroshell which functions as payload shroud during launch, then as an aerobrake and thermal protection system during Mars orbit capture and subsequent entry, descent and landing (EDL) on Mars. The all propulsive crewed MTV is a 0-gE vehicle design that utilizes a fast conjunction trajectory that allows approximately 6-7 month 1-way transit times to and from Mars. Four 12.5 kW(sub e) per 125 square meter rectangular photovoltaic arrays provide the crewed MTV with

HEDS-UP Mars Exploration Forum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Budden, Nancy Ann (Editor); Duke, Micheal B. (Editor)

1998-01-01

In the early 1990s, Duke and Budden convened a series of workshops addressing mission rationale, exploration objectives, and key constraints and issues facing human crews on Mars. The focal point was "why" the U.S. should fly humans to Mars. In the mid-1990s, strategies for a Mars mission matured and evolved, driven formally by NASA Johnson Space Center's Office of Exploration. In 1997, NASA published a report capturing the current thinking: the NASA Mars Reference Mission. In the 1997-1998 school year, HEDS-UP sponsored six universities to conduct design studies on Mars exploration, using the Reference Mission as a basis for their work. The 1998 Mars Exploration Forum presents the results of these university studies, suggesting "how" we might explore Mars, in terms of specific technical components that would enable human missions to Mars. A primary objective of the HEDS-UP Mars Exploration Forum was to provide a forum for active interaction among NASA, industry, and the university community on the subject of human missions to Mars. NASA scientists and engineers were asked to present the state of exploration for Mars mission options currently under study. This status "snapshot" of current Mars strategies set the stage for the six HEDS-UP universities to present their final design study results. Finally, a panel of industry experts discussed readiness for human missions to Mars as it pertains to the aerospace industries and technologies. A robust poster session provided the backdrop for government-industry-university discussions and allowed for feedback to NASA on the Mars Reference Mission. The common thread woven through the two days was discussion of technologies, proven and emerging, that will be required to launch, land, and sustain human crews on the Red Planet. As this decade (and indeed this millenium) draws to a close, Mars will continue to loom in our sights as the next target for human space exploration. It is our hope that the efforts of the Mars

Aeroassisted manned transfer vehicle (TAXI) for advanced Mars Transportation: NASA/USRA 1987 Senior Design Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

A conceptual design study of an aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicle is discussed. Nicknamed TAXI, it will ferry personnel and cargo: (1) between low Earth orbit and a spacecraft circling around the Sun in permanent orbit intersecting gravitational fields of Earth and Mars, and (2) between the cycling spacecraft and a Mars orbiting station, co-orbiting with Phobos. Crew safety and mission flexibility (in terms of ability to provide a wide range of delta-V) were given high priority. Three versions were considered, using the same overall configuration based on a low L/D aerobrake with the geometry of a raked off elliptical cone with ellipsoidal nose and a toroidal skirt. The propulsion system consists of three gimballed LOX/LH2 engines firing away from the aerobrake. The versions differ mainly in the size of the aeroshields and propellant tanks. TAXI A version resulted from an initial effort to design a single transfer vehicle able to meet all delta-V requirements during the 15-year period (2025 to 2040) of Mars mission operations. TAXI B is designed to function with the cycling spacecraft moving in a simplified, nominal trajectory. On Mars missions, TAXI B would be able to meet the requirements of all the missions with a relative approach velocity near Mars of less than 9.3 km/sec. Finally, TAXI C is a revision of TAXI A, a transfer vehicle designed for missions with a relative velocity near Mars larger than 9.3 km/sec. All versions carry a crew of 9 (11 with modifications) and a cargo of 10000 lbm. Trip duration varies from 1 day for transfer from LEO to the cycling ship to nearly 5 days for transfer from the ship to the Phobos orbit.

Habitable Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) Concept. [Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) Layout and Configuration: 6-Crew, Habitable, Nested Tank Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dang, Victor; Rucker, Michelle

2013-01-01

NASA's ultimate goal is the human exploration of Mars. Among the many difficult aspects of a trip to Mars is the return mission that would transport the astronauts from the Martian surface back into Mars orbit. One possible conceptual design to accomplish this task is a two-stage Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV). In order to assess this design, a general layout and configuration for the spacecraft must be developed. The objective of my internship was to model a conceptual MAV design to support NASA's latest human Mars mission architecture trade studies, technology prioritization decisions, and mass, cost, and schedule estimates.

NASAs Evolvable Mars Campaign: Mars Moons Robotic Precursor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gernhardt, Michael L.; Abercromby, Andrew F. J.; Abell, Paul A.; Love, Stanley G.; Lee, David E.; Chappell, Steven P.; Howe, A. Scott; Friedensen, Victoria

2015-01-01

Human exploration missions to the moons of Mars are being considered within NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) as an intermediate step for eventual human exploration and pioneering of the surface of Mars. A range of mission architectures is being evaluated in which human crews would explore one or both moons for as little as 14 days or for as long as 500 days with a variety of orbital and surface habitation and mobility options being considered. Relatively little is known about the orbital, surface, or subsurface characteristics of either moon. This makes them interesting but challenging destinations for human exploration missions during which crewmembers must be able to effectively conduct scientific exploration without being exposed to undue risks due to radiation, dust, micrometeoroids, or other hazards. A robotic precursor mission to one or both moons will be required to provide data necessary for the design and operation of subsequent human systems and for the identification and prioritization of scientific exploration objectives. This paper identifies and discusses considerations for the design of such a precursor mission based on current human mission architectures. Objectives of a Mars' moon precursor in support of human missions are expected to include: 1) identifying hazards on the surface and the orbital environment at up to 50-km distant retrograde orbits; 2) collecting data on physical characteristics for planning of detailed human proximity and surface operations; 3) performing remote sensing and in situ science investigations to refine and focus future human scientific activities; and 4) prospecting for in situ resource utilization. These precursor objectives can be met through a combination or remote sensing (orbital) and in-situ (surface) measurements. Analysis of spacecraft downlink signals using radio science techniques would measure the moon's mass, mass distribution, and gravity field, which will be necessary to enable trajectory planning

Current NASA Plans for Mars In Situ Resource Utilization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanders, Gerald

2018-01-01

The presentation is to provide relevant information to the NASA funded Center for the Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES) Institute. The presentation cover the following: 1) What is In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), 2) What are the resources of interest at the Moon and Mars, 3) ISRU-related mission requirements and ISRU economics, 4) Challenges and Risk for ISRU, 5) Concept of Operation for Mars ISRU Systems, 6) Current State of the Art (SOA) in ISRU, and 7) Current ISRU development and mission status.

MarCO CubeSat Engineers 1

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-20

Engineers for NASA's MarCO (Mars Cube One) technology demonstration inspect the MarCO test bed, which contains components that are identical to those built for a flight to Mars. Cody Colley, left, MarCO integration and test deputy, and Shannon Statham, MarCO integration and test lead, are on the team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, preparing twin MarCO CubeSats. The briefcase-size MarCO twins were designed to ride along with NASA's next Mars lander, InSight. Its planned March 2016 launch was suspended. InSight -- an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20341

Mars Exploration Rovers Propulsive Maneuver Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Potts, Christopher L.; Raofi, Behzad; Kangas, Julie A.

2004-01-01

The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity successfully landed respectively at Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum in January 2004. The rovers are essentially robotic geologists, sent on a mission to search for evidence in the rocks and soil pertaining to the historical presence of water and the ability to possibly sustain life. In order to conduct NASA's 'follow the water' strategy on opposite sides of the planet Mars, an interplanetary journey of over 300 million miles culminated with historic navigation precision. Rigorous trajectory targeting and control was necessary to achieve the atmospheric entry requirements for the selected landing sites. The propulsive maneuver design challenge was to meet or exceed these requirements while preserving the necessary design margin to accommodate additional project concerns. Landing site flexibility was maintained for both missions after launch, and even after the first trajectory correction maneuver for Spirit. The final targeting strategy was modified to improve delivery performance and reduce risk after revealing constraining trajectory control characteristics. Flight results are examined and summarized for the six trajectory correction maneuvers that were planned for each mission.

Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 Study: Executive Summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drake, Bret G.

2008-01-01

The NASA Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0 Study seeks to update its long term goals and objective for human exploration missions; flight and surface systems for human missions and supporting infrastructure; operational concept for human and robotic exploration of Mars; key challenges including risk and cost drivers; and, its development schedule options. It additionally seeks to assess strategic linkages between lunar and Mars strategies and develop and understanding of methods for reducing the cost/risk of human Mars missions through investment in research, technology development, and synergy with other exploration plans. Recommendations are made regarding conjunction class (long-stay) missions which are seen as providing the best balance of cost, risk, and performance. Additionally, this study reviews entry, descent, and landing challenges; in-space transportation systems; launch vehicle and Orion assessments; risk and risk mitigation; key driving requirements and challenges; and, lunar linkages.

Anomaly Trends for Missions to Mars: Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Green, Nelson W.; Hoffman, Alan R.

2008-01-01

Conducted as a part of NASA Ultra-Reliability effort: Goal is to design for increased reliability in all NASA missions. Desire is to increase reliability by a factor of 10. Study provides a baseline for current technology. Analyzed anomalies for spacecraft orbiting Mars. Long lived spacecraft. Comparison with current rover missions and past orbiters. Looked for trends to assist design of future missions.

Comparing NASA and ESA Cost Estimating Methods for Human Missions to Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunt, Charles D.; vanPelt, Michel O.

2004-01-01

To compare working methodologies between the cost engineering functions in NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and ESA European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), as well as to set-up cost engineering capabilities for future manned Mars projects and other studies which involve similar subsystem technologies in MSFC and ESTEC, a demonstration cost estimate exercise was organized. This exercise was a direct way of enhancing not only cooperation between agencies but also both agencies commitment to credible cost analyses. Cost engineers in MSFC and ESTEC independently prepared life-cycle cost estimates for a reference human Mars project and subsequently compared the results and estimate methods in detail. As a non-sensitive, public domain reference case for human Mars projects, the Mars Direct concept was chosen. In this paper the results of the exercise are shown; the differences and similarities in estimate methodologies, philosophies, and databases between MSFC and ESTEC, as well as the estimate results for the Mars Direct concept. The most significant differences are explained and possible estimate improvements identified. In addition, the Mars Direct plan and the extensive cost breakdown structure jointly set-up by MSFC and ESTEC for this concept are presented. It was found that NASA applied estimate models mainly based on historic Apollo and Space Shuttle cost data, taking into account the changes in technology since then. ESA used models mostly based on European satellite and launcher cost data, taking into account the higher equipment and testing standards for human space flight. Most of NASA's and ESA s estimates for the Mars Direct case are comparable, but there are some important, consistent differences in the estimates for: 1) Large Structures and Thermal Control subsystems; 2) System Level Management, Engineering, Product Assurance and Assembly, Integration and Test/Verification activities; 3) Mission Control; 4) Space Agency Program Level

Middleware and Web Services for the Collaborative Information Portal of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sinderson, Elias; Magapu, Vish; Mak, Ronald

2004-01-01

We describe the design and deployment of the middleware for the Collaborative Information Portal (CIP), a mission critical J2EE application developed for NASA's 2003 Mars Exploration Rover mission. CIP enabled mission personnel to access data and images sent back from Mars, staff and event schedules, broadcast messages and clocks displaying various Earth and Mars time zones. We developed the CIP middleware in less than two years time usins cutting-edge technologies, including EJBs, servlets, JDBC, JNDI and JMS. The middleware was designed as a collection of independent, hot-deployable web services, providing secure access to back end file systems and databases. Throughout the middleware we enabled crosscutting capabilities such as runtime service configuration, security, logging and remote monitoring. This paper presents our approach to mitigating the challenges we faced, concluding with a review of the lessons we learned from this project and noting what we'd do differently and why.

MarCO CubeSat Engineers 2

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-20

Engineers for NASA's MarCO (Mars Cube One) technology demonstration inspect one of the two MarCO CubeSats. Cody Colley, MarCO integration and test deputy, left, and Andy Klesh, MarCO chief engineer, are on the team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, preparing twin MarCO CubeSats. The briefcase-size MarCO twins were designed to ride along with NASA's next Mars lander, InSight. Its planned March 2016 launch was suspended. InSight -- an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20342

NASA's Decadal Planning Team Mars Mission Analysis Summary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drake, Bret G.

2007-02-01

In June 1999 the NASA Administrator chartered an internal NASA task force, termed the Decadal Planning Team, to create new integrated vision and strategy for space exploration. The efforts of the Decadal Planning Team evolved into the Agency-wide team known as the NASA Exploration Team (NEXT). This team was also instructed to identify technology roadmaps to enable the science-driven exploration vision, established a cross-Enterprise, cross-Center systems engineering team with emphasis focused on revolutionary not evolutionary approaches. The strategy of the DPT and NEXT teams was to "Go Anywhere, Anytime" by conquering key exploration hurdles of space transportation, crew health and safety, human/robotic partnerships, affordable abundant power, and advanced space systems performance. Early emphasis was placed on revolutionary exploration concepts such as rail gun and electromagnetic launchers, propellant depots, retrograde trajectories, nano structures, and gas core nuclear rockets to name a few. Many of these revolutionary concepts turned out to be either not feasible for human exploration missions or well beyond expected technology readiness for near-term implementation. During the DPT and NEXT study cycles, several architectures were analyzed including missions to the Earth-Sun Libration Point (L2), the Earth-Moon Gateway and L1, the lunar surface, Mars (both short and long stays), one-year round trip Mars, and near-Earth asteroids. Common emphasis of these studies included utilization of the Earth-Moon Libration Point (L1) as a staging point for exploration activities, current (Shuttle) and near-term launch capabilities (EELV), advanced propulsion, and robust space power. Although there was much emphasis placed on utilization of existing launch capabilities, the team concluded that missions in near-Earth space are only marginally feasible and human missions to Mars were not feasible without a heavy lift launch capability. In addition, the team concluded that

NASA's Decadal Planning Team Mars Mission Analysis Summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drake, Bret G. (Editor)

2007-01-01

In June 1999 the NASA Administrator chartered an internal NASA task force, termed the Decadal Planning Team, to create new integrated vision and strategy for space exploration. The efforts of the Decadal Planning Team evolved into the Agency-wide team known as the NASA Exploration Team (NEXT). This team was also instructed to identify technology roadmaps to enable the science-driven exploration vision, established a cross-Enterprise, cross-Center systems engineering team with emphasis focused on revolutionary not evolutionary approaches. The strategy of the DPT and NEXT teams was to "Go Anywhere, Anytime" by conquering key exploration hurdles of space transportation, crew health and safety, human/robotic partnerships, affordable abundant power, and advanced space systems performance. Early emphasis was placed on revolutionary exploration concepts such as rail gun and electromagnetic launchers, propellant depots, retrograde trajectories, nano structures, and gas core nuclear rockets to name a few. Many of these revolutionary concepts turned out to be either not feasible for human exploration missions or well beyond expected technology readiness for near-term implementation. During the DPT and NEXT study cycles, several architectures were analyzed including missions to the Earth-Sun Libration Point (L2), the Earth-Moon Gateway and L1, the lunar surface, Mars (both short and long stays), one-year round trip Mars, and near-Earth asteroids. Common emphasis of these studies included utilization of the Earth-Moon Libration Point (L1) as a staging point for exploration activities, current (Shuttle) and near-term launch capabilities (EELV), advanced propulsion, and robust space power. Although there was much emphasis placed on utilization of existing launch capabilities, the team concluded that missions in near-Earth space are only marginally feasible and human missions to Mars were not feasible without a heavy lift launch capability. In addition, the team concluded that

Propulsive Maneuver Design for the 2007 Mars Phoenix Lander Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raofi, Behzad; Bhat, Ramachandra S.; Helfrich, Cliff

2008-01-01

On May 25, 2008, the Mars Phoenix Lander (PHX) successfully landed in the northern planes of Mars in order to continue and complement NASA's "follow the water" theme as its predecessor Mars missions, such as Mars Odyssey (ODY) and Mars Exploration Rovers, have done in recent years. Instruments on the lander, through a robotic arm able to deliver soil samples to the deck, will perform in-situ and remote-sensing investigations to characterize the chemistry of materials at the local surface, subsurface, and atmosphere. Lander instruments will also identify the potential history of key indicator elements of significance to the biological potential of Mars, including potential organics within any accessible water ice. Precise trajectory control and targeting were necessary in order to achieve the accurate atmospheric entry conditions required for arriving at the desired landing site. The challenge for the trajectory control maneuver design was to meet or exceed these requirements in the presence of spacecraft limitations as well as other mission constraints. This paper describes the strategies used, including the specialized targeting specifically developed for PHX, in order to design and successfully execute the propulsive maneuvers that delivered the spacecraft to its targeted landing site while satisfying the planetary protection requirements in the presence of flight system constraints.

Mars Phoenix Entry, Descent, and Landing Simulation Design and Modelling Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prince, Jill L.; Desai, Prasun N.; Queen, Eric M.; Grover, Myron R.

2008-01-01

The 2007 Mars Phoenix Lander was launched in August of 2007 on a ten month cruise to reach the northern plains of Mars in May 2008. Its mission continues NASA s pursuit to find evidence of water on Mars. Phoenix carries upon it a slew of science instruments to study soil and ice samples from the northern region of the planet, an area previously undiscovered by robotic landers. In order for these science instruments to be useful, it was necessary for Phoenix to perform a safe entry, descent, and landing (EDL) onto the surface of Mars. The EDL design was defined through simulation and analysis of the various phases of the descent. An overview of the simulation and various models developed to characterize the EDL performance is provided. Monte Carlo statistical analysis was performed to assess the performance and robustness of the Phoenix EDL system and are presented in this paper. Using these simulation and modelling tools throughout the design and into the operations phase, the Mars Phoenix EDL was a success on May 25, 2008.

Mars Exploration Rovers: 4 Years on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Landis, Geoffrey A.

2008-01-01

This January, the Mars Exploration Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" are starting their fifth year of exploring the surface of Mars, well over ten times their nominal 90-day design lifetime. This lecture discusses the Mars Exploration Rovers, presents the current mission status for the extended mission, some of the most results from the mission and how it is affecting our current view of Mars, and briefly presents the plans for the coming NASA missions to the surface of Mars and concepts for exploration with robots and humans into the next decade, and beyond.

Mars Lander/Rover vehicle development: An advanced space design project for USRA and NASA/OAST

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

The accomplishments of the Utah State University (USU) Mars Lander/Rover (MLR) design class during the Winter Quarter are delineated and explained. Environment and trajectory, ground systems, balloon system, and payload system are described. Results from this effort will provide a valid and useful basis for further studies of Mars exploratory vehicles.

The NASA Mars Conference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reiber, Duke B.

Papers about Mars and Mars exploration are presented, covering topics such as Martian history, geology, volcanism, channels, moons, atmosphere, meteorology, water on the planet, and the possibility of life. The unmanned exploration of Mars is discussed, including the Phobos Mission, the Mars Observer, the Mars Aeronomy Observer, the seismic network, Mars sample return missions, and the Mars Ball, an inflatable-sectored-tire rover concept. Issues dealing with manned exploration of Mars are examined, such as the reasons for exploring Mars, mission scenarios, a transportation system for routine visits, technologies for Mars expeditions, the human factors for Mars missions, life support systems, living and working on Mars, and the report of the National Commission on Space.

MarCO Flight Hardware 1

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-20

One of the two MarCO (Mars Cube One) CubeSat spacecraft, with its insides displayed, is seen at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. The briefcase-size MarCO twins were designed to ride along with NASA's next Mars lander, InSight. Its planned March 2016 launch was suspended. InSight -- an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20345

MarCO Flight Hardware 2

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-20

One of the two MarCO (Mars Cube One) CubeSat spacecraft is seen at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. The briefcase-size MarCO twins were designed to ride along with NASA's next Mars lander, InSight. Its planned March 2016 launch was suspended. InSight -- an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20346

Mars Orbiter Sample Return Power Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mardesich, N.; Dawson, S.

2005-01-01

Mars has greatly intrigued scientists and the general public for many years because, of all the planets, its environment is most like Earth's. Many scientists believe that Mars once had running water, although surface water is gone today. The planet is very cold with a very thin atmosphere consisting mainly of CO2. Mariner 4, 6, and 7 explored the planet in flybys in the 1960s and by the orbiting Mariner 9 in 1971. NASA then mounted the ambitious Viking mission, which launched two orbiters and two landers to the planet in 1975. The landers found ambiguous evidence of life. Mars Pathfinder landed on the planet on July 4, 1997, delivering a mobile robot rover that demonstrated exploration of the local surface environment. Mars Global Surveyor is creating a highest-resolution map of the planet's surface. These prior and current missions to Mars have paved the way for a complex Mars Sample Return mission planned for 2003 and 2005. Returning surface samples from Mars will necessitate retrieval of material from Mars orbit. Sample mass and orbit are restricted to the launch capability of the Mars Ascent Vehicle. A small sample canister having a mass less than 4 kg and diameter of less than 16 cm will spend from three to seven years in a 600 km orbit waiting for retrieval by a second spacecraft consisting of an orbiter equipped with a sample canister retrieval system, and a Earth Entry Vehicle. To allow rapid detection of the on-orbit canister, rendezvous, and collection of the samples, the canister will have a tracking beacon powered by a surface mounted solar array. The canister must communicate using RF transmission with the recovery vehicle that will be coming in 2006 or 2009 to retrieve the canister. This paper considers the aspect and conclusion that went into the design of the power system that achieves the maximum power with the minimum risk. The power output for the spherical orbiting canister was modeled and plotted in various views of the orbit by the Satellite

Mars Rover Concept Vehicle

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-06-05

The scientifically-themed Mars rover concept vehicle operates on an electric motor, powered by solar panels and a 700-volt battery. The back section opens and serves as a laboratory which can disconnect for autonomous research. While this exact rover is not expected to operate on Mars, one or more of its elements could make its way into a rover astronauts will drive on the Red Planet. The "Summer of Mars" promotion is designed to provide guests with a better understanding of NASA's studies of the Red Planet. The builders of the rover, Parker Brothers Concepts of Port Canaveral, Florida, incorporated input into its design from NASA subject matter experts.

JPL-20180505-INSIGHf-0001-NASA InSight on Its Way to Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-05

Making history as the first interplanetary launch from the West Coast, NASA's InSight spacecraft is now soaring towards Mars. The spacecraft, which lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Central California, will be the first mission to study the deep interior of Mars. Its instruments include a seismometer to detect marsquakes for the first time and a heat flow p[robe that will embed itself as deep as about 16 feet (5 meters) below the surface of Mars.

MarCO Being Tested in Sunlight

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-29

Engineer Joel Steinkraus uses sunlight to test the solar arrays on one of the Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The MarCOs will be the first CubeSats -- a kind of modular, mini-satellite -- flown into deep space. They're designed to fly along behind NASA's InSight lander on its cruise to Mars. If they make the journey to Mars, they will test a relay of data about InSight's entry, descent and landing back to Earth. Though InSight's mission will not depend on the success of the MarCOs, they will be a test of how CubeSats can be used in deep space. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22317

Mars Surface Habitability Options

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howe, A. Scott; Simon, Matthew; Smitherman, David; Howard, Robert; Toups, Larry; Hoffman, Stephen J.

2015-01-01

This paper reports on current habitability concepts for an Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) prepared by the NASA Human Spaceflight Architecture Team (HAT). For many years NASA has investigated alternative human Mars missions, examining different mission objectives, trajectories, vehicles, and technologies; the combinations of which have been referred to as reference missions or architectures. At the highest levels, decisions regarding the timing and objectives for a human mission to Mars continue to evolve while at the lowest levels, applicable technologies continue to advance. This results in an on-going need for assessments of alternative system designs such as the habitat, a significant element in any human Mars mission scenario, to provide meaningful design sensitivity characterizations to assist decision-makers regarding timing, objectives, and technologies. As a subset of the Evolvable Mars Campaign activities, the habitability team builds upon results from past studies and recommends options for Mars surface habitability compatible with updated technologies.

Both MarCO Spacecraft

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-29

Engineer Joel Steinkraus stands with both of the Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The one on the left is folded up the way it will be stowed on its rocket; the one on the right has its solar panels fully deployed, along with its high-gain antenna on top. The MarCOs will be the first CubeSats -- a kind of modular, mini-satellite -- flown in deep space. They're designed to fly along behind NASA's InSight lander on its cruise to Mars. If they make the journey, they will test a relay of data about InSight's entry, descent and landing back to Earth. Though InSight's mission will not depend on the success of the MarCOs, they will be a test of how CubeSats can be used in deep space. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22319

2011 Mars Science Laboratory Mission Design Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abilleira, Fernando

2010-01-01

Scheduled to launch in the fall of 2011 with arrival at Mars occurring in the summer of 2012, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will explore and assess whether Mars ever had conditions capable of supporting microbial life. In order to achieve its science objectives, the Mars Science Laboratory will be equipped with the most advanced suite of instruments ever sent to the surface of the Red Planet. Delivering the next mobile science laboratory safely to the surface of Mars has various key challenges derived from a strict set of requirements which include launch vehicle performance, spacecraft mass, communications coverage during Entry, Descent, and Landing, atmosphere-relative entry speeds, latitude accessibility, and dust storm season avoidance among others. The Mars Science Laboratory launch/arrival strategy selected after careful review satisfies all these mission requirements.

NASA Curiosity rover hits organic pay dirt on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voosen, Paul

2018-06-01

Since NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars in 2012, it has sifted samples of soil and ground-up rock for signs of organic molecules—the complex carbon chains that on Earth form the building blocks of life. Past detections have been so faint that they could be just contamination. Now, samples taken from two different drill sites on an ancient lakebed have yielded complex organic macromolecules that look strikingly similar to kerogen, the goopy fossilized building blocks of oil and gas on Earth. At a few dozen parts per million, the detected levels are 100 times higher than previous finds, but scientists still cannot say whether they have origins in biology or geology. The discovery positions scientists to begin searching for direct evidence of past life on Mars and bolsters the case for returning rock samples from the planet, an effort that begins with the Mars 2020 rover.

Mars Telecommunications Orbiter Ka-band system design and operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Noreen, Gary; Komarek, Tomas; Diehl, Roger; Shambayati, Shervin; Breidenthal, Julian; Lopez, Saturnino; Jordan, Frank

2003-01-01

NASA's Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) will relay broadband communications from landers, rovers and spacecraft in the vicinity of Mars to Earth. This paper describes the MTO communications system and how the MTO Ka-band system will be operated.

Microscopes for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2007-01-01

One part of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer instrument for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is a pair of telescopes with a special wheel (on the right in this photograph) for presenting samples to be inspected with the microscopes. A horizontally mounted optical microscope (on the left in this photograph) and an atomic force microscope will examine soil particles and possibly ice particles.

The shapes and the size distributions of soil particles may tell scientists about environmental conditions the material has experienced. Tumbling rounds the edges. Repeated wetting and freezing causes cracking. Clay minerals formed during long exposure to water have distinctive, platy particles shapes.

Upgrades, Current Capabilities and Near-Term Plans of the NASA ARC Mars Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hollingsworth, J. L.; Kahre, Melinda April; Haberle, Robert M.; Schaeffer, James R.

2012-01-01

We describe and review recent upgrades to the ARC Mars climate modeling framework, in particular, with regards to physical parameterizations (i.e., testing, implementation, modularization and documentation); the current climate modeling capabilities; selected research topics regarding current/past climates; and then, our near-term plans related to the NASA ARC Mars general circulation modeling (GCM) project.

Alternate: MarCO Being Tested in Sunlight

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-29

Engineer Joel Steinkraus uses sunlight to test the solar arrays on one of the Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The MarCOs will be the first CubeSats -- a kind of modular, mini-satellite -- flown into deep space. They're designed to fly along behind NASA's InSight lander on its cruise to Mars. If they make the journey, they will test a relay of data about InSight's entry, descent and landing back to Earth. Though InSight's mission will not depend on the success of the MarCOs, they will be a test of how CubeSats can be used in deep space. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22318

Mars Rover Concept Vehicle

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-06-05

The scientifically-themed Mars rover concept vehicle operates on an electric motor, powered by solar panels and a 700-volt battery. The rover separates in the middle with the front area designed for scouting and equipped with a radio and navigation provided by the Global Positioning System. The back section serves as a full laboratory which can disconnect for autonomous research. The "Summer of Mars" promotion is designed to provide guests with a better understanding of NASA's studies of the Red Planet. The builders of the rover, Parker Brothers Concepts of Port Canaveral, Florida, incorporated input into its design from NASA subject matter experts.

Mars Odyssey Seen by Mars Global Surveyor

NASA Image and Video Library

2005-05-19

This view is an enlargement of an image of NASA Mars Odyssey spacecraft taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera aboard NASA Mars Global Surveyor while the two spacecraft were about 90 kilometers 56 miles apart.

Proximity Link Design and Performance Options for a Mars Areostationary Relay Satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, Charles D.; Bell, David J.; Biswas, Abhijit; Cheung, Kar-Ming; Lock, Robert E.

2016-01-01

Current and near-term Mars relay telecommunications services are provided by a set of NASA and ESA Mars science orbiters equipped with UHF relay communication payloads employing operationally simple low-gain antennas. These have been extremely successful in supporting a series of landed Mars mission, greatly increasing data return relative to direct-to-Earth lander links. Yet their relay services are fundamentally constrained by the short contact times available from the selected science orbits. Future Mars areostationary orbiters, flying in circular, equatorial, 1- sol orbits, offer the potential for continuous coverage of Mars landers and rovers, radically changing the relay support paradigm. Achieving high rates on the longer slant ranges to areostationary altitude will require steered, high-gain links. Both RF and optical options exist for achieving data rates in excess of 100 Mb/s. Several point designs offer a measure of potential user burden, in terms of mass, volume, power, and pointing requirements for user relay payloads, as a function of desired proximity link performance.

Send Your Students to Mars for Their next Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindgren, Charles

2006-01-01

The NASA's Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP) is led by the Arizona State University (ASU) Mars Education Program, a major partner of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. MSIP is based on the National Science Education Standards and includes curriculum on terrestrial planet characteristics, experimental design, and proposal writing. Three spacecraft…

Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0, Addendum #2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drake, Bret G. (Editor); Watts Kevin D. (Editor)

2014-01-01

This report serves as the second Addendum to NASA-SP-2009-566, "Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0." The data and descriptions contained within this Addendum capture some of the key assessments and studies produced since publication of the original document, predominately covering those conducted from 2009 through 2012. The assessments and studies described herein are for the most part independent stand-alone contributions. Effort has not been made to assimilate the findings to provide an updated integrated strategy. That is a recognized future effort. This report should not be viewed as constituting a formal plan for the human exploration of Mars.

Modular Growth NTR Space Transportation System for Future NASA Human Lunar, NEA and Mars Exploration Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Borowski, Stanley K.; McCurdy, David R.; Packard, Thomas W.

2012-01-01

The nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) is a proven, high thrust propulsion technology that has twice the specific impulse (I(sub sp) approx.900 s) of today's best chemical rockets. During the Rover and NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Applications) programs, twenty rocket reactors were designed, built and ground tested. These tests demonstrated: (1) a wide range of thrust; (2) high temperature carbide-based nuclear fuel; (3) sustained engine operation; (4) accumulated lifetime; and (5) restart capability - everything required for affordable human missions beyond LEO. In NASA's recent Mars Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0 study, the NTR was selected as the preferred propulsion option because of its proven technology, higher performance, lower IMLEO, versatile vehicle design, and growth potential. Furthermore, the NTR requires no large technology scale-ups since the smallest engine tested during the Rover program - the 25 klb(sub f) "Pewee" engine is sufficient for human Mars missions when used in a clustered engine configuration. The "Copernicus" crewed Mars transfer vehicle developed for DRA 5.0 was an expendable design sized for fast-conjunction, long surface stay Mars missions. It therefore has significant propellant capacity allowing a reusable "1-year" round trip human mission to a large, high energy near Earth asteroid (NEA) like Apophis in 2028. Using a "split mission" approach, Copernicus and its two key elements - a common propulsion stage and integrated "saddle truss" and LH2 drop tank assembly - configured as an Earth Return Vehicle / propellant tanker, can also support a short round trip (approx.18 month) / short orbital stay (60 days) Mars reconnaissance mission in the early 2030's before a landing is attempted. The same short stay orbital mission can be performed with an "all-up" vehicle by adding an "in-line" LH2 tank to Copernicus to supply the extra propellant needed for this higher energy, opposition-class mission. To transition to a

SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION: A More Cautious NASA Sets Plans for Mars.

PubMed

Lawler, A

2000-11-03

Twice burned by mission failures last year, NASA managers last week unveiled a new 15-year blueprint for Mars exploration. The revamped strategy allows for doing more science, but at a slower pace, while delaying a sample return until well into the next decade.

Human Centered Design and Development for NASA's MerBoard

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trimble, Jay

2003-01-01

This viewgraph presentation provides an overview of the design and development process for NASA's MerBoard. These devices are large interactive display screens which can be shown on the user's computer, which will allow scientists in many locations to interpret and evaluate mission data in real-time. These tools are scheduled to be used during the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) expeditions. Topics covered include: mission overview, Mer Human Centered Computers, FIDO 2001 observations and MerBoard prototypes.

Reference Mission Version 3.0 Addendum to the Human Exploration of Mars: The Reference Mission of the NASA Mars Exploration Study Team. Addendum; 3.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drake, Bret G. (Editor)

1998-01-01

This Addendum to the Mars Reference Mission was developed as a companion document to the NASA Special Publication 6107, "Human Exploration of Mars: The Reference Mission of the NASA Mars Exploration Study Team." It summarizes changes and updates to the Mars Reference Missions that were developed by the Exploration Office since the final draft of SP 6107 was printed in early 1999. The Reference Mission is a tool used by the exploration community to compare and evaluate approaches to mission and system concepts that could be used for human missions to Mars. It is intended to identify and clarify system drivers, significant sources of cost, performance, risk, and schedule variation. Several alternative scenarios, employing different technical approaches to solving mission and technology challenges, are discussed in this Addendum. Comparing alternative approaches provides the basis for continual improvement to technology investment plan and a general understanding of future human missions to Mars. The Addendum represents a snapshot of work in progress in support of planning for future human exploration missions through May 1998.

Mars Orbiter Sample Return Power Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mardesich, N.; Dawson, S.

1999-01-01

The NASA/JPL 2003/2005 Mars Sample Return (MSR) Missions will each have a sample return canister that will be filled with samples cored from the surface of MARS. These spherical canisters will be 14.8 cm in diameter and must be powered only by solar cells on the surface and must communicate using RF transmission with the recovery vehicle that will be coming in 2006 or 2009 to retrieve the canister. This paper considers the aspect and conclusion that went into the design of the power system that achieves the maximum power with the minimum risk. The power output for the spherical orbiting canister was modeled and plotted in various views of the orbit by the SOAP program developed by JPL. The requirements and geometry for a solar array on a sphere are unique and place special constraints on the design. These requirements include 1) accommodating a lid for sample loading into the canister, surface area was restricted from use on the Northern pole of the spherical canister. 2) minimal cell surface coverage (maximum cell efficiency), less than 40%, for recovery vehicle to locate the canister by optical techniques. 3) a RF transmission during 50% of MARS orbit time on any spin axis, which requires optimum circuit placement of the solar cell onto the spherical canister. The best configuration would have been a 4.5 volt round cell, but in the real world we compromised with six triangular silicon cells connected in series to form a hexagon. These hexagon circuits would be mounted onto a flat facet cut into the spherical canister. The surface flats are required in order to maximize power, the surface of the cells connected in series must be at the same angle relative to the sun. The flat facets intersect each other to allow twelve circuits evenly spaced just North and twelve circuits South of the equator of the spherical canister. Connecting these circuits in parallel allows sufficient power to operate the transmitter at minimum solar exposure, Northern pole of the canister

Modeling to Mars: a NASA Model Based Systems Engineering Pathfinder Effort

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Phojanamongkolkij, Nipa; Lee, Kristopher A.; Miller, Scott T.; Vorndran, Kenneth A.; Vaden, Karl R.; Ross, Eric P.; Powell, Bobby C.; Moses, Robert W.

2017-01-01

The NASA Engineering Safety Center (NESC) Systems Engineering (SE) Technical Discipline Team (TDT) initiated the Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Pathfinder effort in FY16. The goals and objectives of the MBSE Pathfinder include developing and advancing MBSE capability across NASA, applying MBSE to real NASA issues, and capturing issues and opportunities surrounding MBSE. The Pathfinder effort consisted of four teams, with each team addressing a particular focus area. This paper focuses on Pathfinder team 1 with the focus area of architectures and mission campaigns. These efforts covered the timeframe of February 2016 through September 2016. The team was comprised of eight team members from seven NASA Centers (Glenn Research Center, Langley Research Center, Ames Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center IV&V Facility, Johnson Space Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, and Stennis Space Center). Collectively, the team had varying levels of knowledge, skills and expertise in systems engineering and MBSE. The team applied their existing and newly acquired system modeling knowledge and expertise to develop modeling products for a campaign (Program) of crew and cargo missions (Projects) to establish a human presence on Mars utilizing In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). Pathfinder team 1 developed a subset of modeling products that are required for a Program System Requirement Review (SRR)/System Design Review (SDR) and Project Mission Concept Review (MCR)/SRR as defined in NASA Procedural Requirements. Additionally, Team 1 was able to perform and demonstrate some trades and constraint analyses. At the end of these efforts, over twenty lessons learned and recommended next steps have been identified.

A Reliable Service-Oriented Architecture for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mak, Ronald; Walton, Joan; Keely, Leslie; Hehner, Dennis; Chan, Louise

2005-01-01

The Collaborative Information Portal (CIP) was enterprise software developed jointly by the NASA Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA's highly successful Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission. Both MER and CIP have performed far beyond their original expectations. Mission managers and engineers ran CIP inside the mission control room at JPL, and the scientists ran CIP in their laboratories, homes, and offices. All the users connected securely over the Internet. Since the mission ran on Mars time, CIP displayed the current time in various Mars and Earth time zones, and it presented staffing and event schedules with Martian time scales. Users could send and receive broadcast messages, and they could view and download data and image files generated by the rovers' instruments. CIP had a three-tiered, service-oriented architecture (SOA) based on industry standards, including J2EE and web services, and it integrated commercial off-the-shelf software. A user's interactions with the graphical interface of the CIP client application generated web services requests to the CIP middleware. The middleware accessed the back-end data repositories if necessary and returned results for these requests. The client application could make multiple service requests for a single user action and then present a composition of the results. This happened transparently, and many users did not even realize that they were connecting to a server. CIP performed well and was extremely reliable; it attained better than 99% uptime during the course of the mission. In this paper, we present overviews of the MER mission and of CIP. We show how CIP helped to fulfill some of the mission needs and how people used it. We discuss the criteria for choosing its architecture, and we describe how the developers made the software so reliable. CIP's reliability did not come about by chance, but was the result of several key design decisions. We conclude with some of the important

Advancing the Journey to Mars on This Week @NASA – October 30, 2015

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-10-30

During an Oct. 28 keynote speech at the Center for American Progress, in Washington, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden spoke about the advancement made on the journey to Mars and what lies ahead for future administrations and policy makers. NASA’s recently released report “Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration,” outlines its plan to reach Mars in phases – with technology demonstrations and research aboard the International Space Station, followed by hardware and procedure development in the proving ground around the moon, before sending humans to the Red Planet. Also, Space station spacewalk, Another record in space for Kelly, Mars Landing Sites/ Exploration Zones Workshop, Cassini’s “deep dive” flyby and more!

Model of Mars-Bound MarCO CubeSat

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-06-12

Engineers for NASA's MarCO technology demonstration display a full-scale mechanical mock-up of the small craft in development as part of NASA's next mission to Mars. Mechanical engineer Joel Steinkraus and systems engineer Farah Alibay are on the team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, preparing twin MarCO (Mars Cube One) CubeSats for a March 2016 launch. MarCO is the first interplanetary mission using CubeSat technologies for small spacecraft. The briefcase-size MarCO twins will ride along on an Atlas V launch vehicle lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with NASA's next Mars lander, InSight. The mock-up in the photo is in a configuration to show the deployed position of components that correspond to MarCO's two solar panels and two antennas. During launch, those components will be stowed for a total vehicle size of about 14.4 inches (36.6 centimeters) by 9.5 inches (24.3 centimeters) by 4.6 inches (11.8 centimeters). After launch, the two MarCO CubeSats and InSight will be navigated separately to Mars. The MarCO twins will fly past the planet in September 2016 just as InSight is descending through the atmosphere and landing on the surface. MarCO is a technology demonstration mission to relay communications from InSight to Earth during InSight's descent and landing. InSight communications during that critical period will also be recorded by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for delayed transmission to Earth. InSight -- an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. After launch, the MarCO twins and InSight will be navigated separately to Mars. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission

Human Mars Mission Design - The Ultimate Systems Challenge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connolly, John F.; Joosten, B. Kent; Drake, Bret; Hoffman, Steve; Polsgrove, Tara; Rucker, Michelle; Andrews, Alida; Williams, Nehemiah

2017-01-01

A human mission to Mars will occur at some time in the coming decades. When it does, it will be the end result of a complex network of interconnected design choices, systems analyses, technical optimizations, and non-technical compromises. This mission will extend the technologies, engineering design, and systems analyses to new limits, and may very well be the most complex undertaking in human history. It can be illustrated as a large menu, or as a large decision tree. Whatever the visualization tool, there are numerous design decisions required to assemble a human Mars mission, and many of these interconnect with one another. This paper examines these many decisions and further details a number of choices that are highly interwoven throughout the mission design. The large quantity of variables and their interconnectedness results in a highly complex systems challenge, and the paper illustrates how a change in one variable results in ripples (sometimes unintended) throughout many other facets of the design. The paper concludes with a discussion of some mission design variables that can be addressed first, and those that have already been addressed as a result of ongoing National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) developments, or as a result of decisions outside the technical arena. It advocates the need for a 'reference design' that can be used as a point of comparison, and to illustrate the system-wide impacts as design variables change.

Entry Vehicle Control System Design for the Mars Smart Lander

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Calhoun, Philip C.; Queen, Eric M.

2002-01-01

The NASA Langley Research Center, in cooperation with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, participated in a preliminary design study of the Entry, Descent and Landing phase for the Mars Smart Lander Project. This concept utilizes advances in Guidance, Navigation and Control technology to significantly reduce uncertainty in the vehicle landed location on the Mars surface. A candidate entry vehicle controller based on the Reaction Control System controller for the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module digital autopilot is proposed for use in the entry vehicle attitude control. A slight modification to the phase plane controller is used to reduce jet-firing chattering while maintaining good control response for the Martian entry probe application. The controller performance is demonstrated in a six-degree-of-freedom simulation with representative aerodynamics.

Mission and Design Sensitivities for Human Mars Landers Using Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polsgrove, Tara P.; Thomas, Herbert D.; Collins, Tim; Dwyer Cianciolo, Alicia; Samareh, Jamshid

2017-01-01

Landing humans on Mars is one of NASA's long term goals. The Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) is focused on evaluating architectural trade options to define the capabilities and elements needed for a sustainable human presence on the surface of Mars. The EMC study teams have considered a variety of in-space propulsion options and surface mission options. As we seek to better understand how these choices affect the performance of the lander, this work informs and influences requirements for transportation systems to deliver the landers to Mars and enable these missions. This paper presents the effects of mission and vehicle design options on lander mass and performance. Beginning with Earth launch, options include fairing size assumptions, co-manifesting other elements with the lander, and Earth-Moon vicinity operations. Capturing into Mars orbit using either aerocapture or propulsive capture is assessed. For entry, descent, and landing both storable as well as oxygen and methane propellant combinations are considered, engine thrust level is assessed, and sensitivity to landed payload mass is presented. This paper focuses on lander designs using the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (HIAD), one of several entry system technologies currently considered for human missions.

NASA Ames Science Instrument Launches Aboard New Mars Rover (CheMin)

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-11-23

When NASA's Mars Science Laboratory lands in a region known as Gale Crater in August of 2012, it will be poised to carry out the most sophisticated chemical analysis of the Martian surface to date. One of the 10 instruments on board the rover Curiosity will be CheMin - short for chemistry and mineralogy. Developed by Ames researcher David Blake and his team, it will use new technology to analyze and identify minerals in the Martian rocks and soil. Youtube: NASA Ames Scientists Develop MSL Science Instrument

Mars oxygen production system design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cotton, Charles E.; Pillow, Linda K.; Perkinson, Robert C.; Brownlie, R. P.; Chwalowski, P.; Carmona, M. F.; Coopersmith, J. P.; Goff, J. C.; Harvey, L. L.; Kovacs, L. A.

1989-01-01

The design and construction phase is summarized of the Mars oxygen demonstration project. The basic hardware required to produce oxygen from simulated Mars atmosphere was assembled and tested. Some design problems still remain with the sample collection and storage system. In addition, design and development of computer compatible data acquisition and control instrumentation is ongoing.

Mars oxygen production system design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

This report summarizes the design and construction of the Mars oxygen demonstration project. The basic hardware required to produce oxygen from simulated Mars atmosphere has been assembled and tested. Some design problems still remain with the sample collection and storage system. In addition, design and development of computer data acquisition and control instrumentation is continuing.

Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drake, Bret G.

2009-01-01

This document reviews the Design Reference Architecture (DRA) for human exploration of Mars. The DRA represents the current best strategy for human missions. The DRA is not a formal plan, but provides a vision and context to tie current systems and technology developments to potential missions to Mars, and it also serves as a benchmark against which alternative architectures can be measured. The document also reviews the objectives and products of the 2007 study that was to update NASA's human Mars mission reference architecture, assess strategic linkages between lunar and Mars strategies, develop an understanding of methods for reducing cost/risk of human missions through investment in research, technology development and synergy with other exploration plans. There is also a review of the process by which the DRA will continue to be refined. The unique capacities of human exploration is reviewed. The possible goals and objectives of the first three human missions are presented, along with the recommendation that the mission involve a long stay visiting multiple sites.The deployment strategy is outlined and diagrammed including the pre-deployment of the many of the material requirements, and a six crew travel to Mars on a six month trajectory. The predeployment and the Orion crew vehicle are shown. The ground operations requirements are also explained. Also the use of resources found on the surface of Mars is postulated. The Mars surface exploration strategy is reviewed, including the planetary protection processes that are planned. Finally a listing of the key decisions and tenets is posed.

MarCOs Cruise in Deep Space

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-29

An artist's rendering of the twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft as they fly through deep space. The MarCOs will be the first CubeSats -- a kind of modular, mini-satellite -- attempting to fly to another planet. They're designed to fly along behind NASA's InSight lander on its cruise to Mars. If they make the journey, they will test a relay of data about InSight's entry, descent and landing back to Earth. Though InSight's mission will not depend on the success of the MarCOs, they will be a test of how CubeSats can be used in deep space. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22314

Design of a scientific probe for obtaining Mars surface material

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

With the recent renewed interest in interplanetary and deep space exploratory missions, the Red Planet, Mars, which has captured people's imagination for centuries, has again become a center of attention. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a series of Mariner missions performed fly-by investigations of the Mars surface and atmosphere. Later, in the mid 1970s, the data gathered by these earlier Mariner missions provided the basis of the much-publicized Viking missions, whose main objective was to determine the possibility of extraterrestrial life on Mars. More recently, with the dramatic changes in international politics, ambitious joint manned missions between the United States and the Soviet Union have been proposed to be launched in the early 21st century. In light of these exciting developments, the Spacecraft Design course, which was newly established at UCLA under NASA/USRA sponsorship, has developed its curriculum around a design project: the synthesis of an unmanned Martian landing probe. The students are required to conceive a preliminary design of a small spacecraft that is capable of landing at a designated site, collecting soil samples, and then returning the samples to orbit. The goal of the project is to demonstrate the feasibility of such a mission. This preliminary study of an interplanetary exploration mission has shown the feasibility of such a mission. The students have learned valuable lessons about the complexity of spacecraft design, even though the mission is relatively simple.

Images From Comet’s Mars Flyby On This Week @NASA - October 24, 2014

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-10-24

Several Mars-based NASA spacecraft had prime viewing positions for comet Siding Spring’s October 19 close flyby of the Red Planet. Early images included a composite photo from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope that combined shots of Mars, the comet, and a star background to illustrate Siding Spring’s distance from Mars at closest approach. Also, images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera, which represent the highest-resolution views ever acquired of a comet that came from the Oort Cloud, at the outer fringe of the solar system. The comet flyby – only about 87,000 miles from Mars – was much closer than any other known comet flyby of a planet. Also, Partial solar eclipse, Space station spacewalk, Preparing to release Dragon, Cygnus launch update, Welding begins on SLS, Astronaut class visits Glenn and more!

MW-Class Electric Propulsion System Designs for Mars Cargo Transport

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gilland, James H.; LaPointe, Michael R.; Oleson, Steven; Mercer, Carolyn; Pencil, Eric; Maosn, Lee

2011-01-01

Multi-kilowatt electric propulsion systems are well developed and have been used on commercial and military satellites in Earth orbit for several years. Ion and Hall thrusters have also propelled robotic spacecraft to encounters with asteroids, the Moon, and minor planetary bodies within the solar system. High power electric propulsion systems are currently being considered to support piloted missions to near earth asteroids, as cargo transport for sustained lunar or Mars exploration, and for very high-power piloted missions to Mars and the outer planets. Using NASA Mars Design Architecture 5.0 as a reference, a preliminary parametric analysis was performed to determine the suitability of a nuclear powered, MW-class electric propulsion system for Mars cargo transport. For this initial analysis, high power 100-kW Hall thrusters and 250-kW VASIMR engines were separately evaluated to determine optimum vehicle architecture and estimated performance. The DRA 5.0 cargo mission closed for both propulsion options, delivering a 100 t payload to Mars orbit and reducing the number of heavy lift launch vehicles from five in the baseline DRA 5.0 architecture to two using electric propulsion. Under an imposed single engine-out mission success criteria, the VASIMR system took longer to reach Mars than did the Hall system, arising from the need to operate the VASIMR thrusters in pairs during the spiral out from low Earth orbit.

Design of human missions to Mars and robotic missions to Jupiter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okutsu, Masataka

We consider human missions to Mars and robotic missions to Jupiter for launch dates in the near- and far-future. For the near-future, we design trajectories for currently proposed space missions that have well-defined spacecraft and mission requirements. For example, for early human missions to Mars we assume that the constraints used in NASA's design reference missions are indicative of current and near-future technologies, which of course limit our capabilities to explore Mars--and these limits make the problem challenging. Similarly, in the case of robotic exploration of Jupiter, we consider that the technology levels assumed for the proposed Europa Orbiter mission represent reasonable limits. For the far-future (two to three decades from now), we take the best estimates from current literature about the capabilities that may be available in nuclear-powered electric propulsion. We consider hardware capabilities (in terms of specific mass, specific impulse, thrust, power, etc.) for low-thrust trajectories, which range froth near-term to far-future technologies. In designing such missions, several techniques are found useful. For example, the Tisserand Graph, which tracks the changes in orbital shapes and energies, provides insight in designing Jovian tours for the Europa Orbiter mission. The graph is also useful in analyzing abort trajectories for human missions to Mars. Furthermore, a patched-conic propagator, which can generate thousands of potential trajectories, plays a vital role in three of four chapters of this thesis. For launches in the next three decades, we discovered a class of Earth- Mars-Venus-Earth free returns (which appear only four times in the 100-year period), Jovian tours involving ten to twenty flybys of the Galilean satellites, and low-thrust trajectories to Jupiter via gravity assists from Venus, Earth, and Mars. In addition, our continuation method, in which a solution for a conic trajectory is gradually converted into that for a low

ESAS-Derived Earth Departure Stage Design for Human Mars Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Flaherty, Kevin; Grant, Michael; Korzun, Ashley; Malo-Molina, Faure; Steinfeldt, Bradley; Stahl, Benjamin; Wilhite, Alan

2007-01-01

The Vision for Space Exploration has set the nation on a course to have humans on Mars as early as 2030. To reduce the cost and risk associated with human Mars exploration, NASA is planning for the Mars architecture to leverage the lunar architecture as fully as possible. This study takes the defined launch vehicles and system capabilities from ESAS and extends their application to DRM 3.0 to design an Earth Departure Stage suitable for the cargo and crew missions to Mars. The impact of a propellant depot in LEO was assessed and sLzed for use with the EDS. To quantitatively assess and compare the effectiveness of alternative designs, an initial baseline architecture was defined using the ESAS launch vehicles and DRM 3.0. The baseline architecture uses three NTR engines, LH2 propellant, no propellant depot in LEO, and launches on the Ares I and Ares V. The Mars transfer and surface elements from DRM 3.0 were considered to be fixed payloads in the design of the EDS. Feasible architecture alternatives were identified from previous architecture studies and anticipated capabilities and compiled in a morphological matrix. ESAS FOMs were used to determine the most critical design attributes for the effectiveness of the EDS. The ESAS-derived FOMs used in this study to assess alternative designs are effectiveness and performance, affordability, reliability, and risk. The individual FOMs were prioritized using the AHP, a method for pairwise comparison. All trades performed were evaluated with respect to the weighted FOMs, creating a Pareto frontier of equivalently ideal solutions. Additionally, each design on the frontier was evaluated based on its fulfillment of the weighted FOMs using TOPSIS, a quantitative method for ordinal ranking of the alternatives. The designs were assessed in an integrated environment using physics-based models for subsystem analysis where possible. However, for certain attributes such as engine type, historical, performance-based mass estimating

Agenda of the Fourth Annual Summer Conference, NASA/USRA University Advanced Design Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

Presentations given by the participants at the fourth annual summer conference of the NASA/USRA University Advanced Design Program are summarized. The study topics include potential space and aeronautics projects which could be undertaken during a 20 to 30 year period beginning with the Space Station Initial Operating Configuration (IOC) scheduled for the early to mid-1990's. This includes system design studies for both manned and unmanned endeavors; e.g., lunar launch and landing facilities and operations, variable artificial gravity facility for the Space Station, manned Mars aircraft and delivery system, long term space habitat, construction equipment for lunar bases, Mars oxygen production system, trans-Pacific high speed civil transport, V/STOL aircraft concepts, etc.

Human Exploration of Mars: The Reference Mission of the NASA Mars Exploration Study Team

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connolly, John

1998-01-01

The Reference Mission was developed over a period of several years and was published in NASA Special Publication 6107 in July 1997. The purpose of the Reference Mission was to provide a workable model for the human exploration of Mars, which is described in enough detail that alternative strategies and implementations can be compared and evaluated. NASA is continuing to develop the Reference Mission and expects to update this report in the near future. It was the purpose of the Reference Mission to develop scenarios based on the needs of scientists and explorers who want to conduct research on Mars; however, more work on the surface-mission aspects of the Reference Mission is required and is getting under way. Some aspects of the Reference Mission that are important for the consideration of the surface mission definition include: (1) a split mission strategy, which arrives at the surface two years before the arrival of the first crew; (2) three missions to the outpost site over a 6-year period; (3) a plant capable of producing rocket propellant for lifting off Mars and caches of water, O, and inert gases for the life-support system; (4) a hybrid physico-chemical/bioregenerative life-support system, which emphasizes the bioregenerative system more in later parts of the scenario; (5) a nuclear reactor power supply, which provides enough power for all operations, including the operation of a bioregenerative life-support system as well as the propellant and consumable plant; (6) capability for at least two people to be outside the habitat each day of the surface stay; (7) telerobotic and human-operated transportation vehicles, including a pressurized rover capable of supporting trips of several days' duration from the habitat; (7) crew stay times of 500 days on the surface, with six-person crews; and (8) multiple functional redundancies to reduce risks to the crews on the surface. New concepts are being sought that would reduce the overall cost for this exploration

Mars Odyssey Seen by Mars Global Surveyor 3-D

NASA Image and Video Library

2005-05-19

This stereoscopic picture of NASA Mars Odyssey spacecraft was created from two views of that spacecraft taken by the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA Mars Global Surveyor. 3D glasses are necessary to view this image.

ourney to Mars: An international effort on This Week @NASA – October 16, 2015

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-10-16

During meetings and public events at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Oct. 12-16 in Jerusalem, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and several other NASA officials highlighted the agency’s recently released plan to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030’s. They also emphasized the need for international partnerships and cooperation to make a mission of this magnitude a reality, the importance of harnessing enthusiasm for space exploration and the need to encourage young people to develop the skills we’ll need for the Journey to Mars. Also, New American record in space, Flyby of Saturnian moon, Next launch for Cygnus, Access to space for small satellites and more! JPL Open House is a big draw.

Mars Radiation Risk Assessment and Shielding Design for Long-term Exposure to Ionizing Space Radiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tripathi, Ram K.; Nealy, John E.

2007-01-01

NASA is now focused on the agency's vision for space exploration encompassing a broad range of human and robotic missions including missions to Moon, Mars and beyond. As a result, there is a focus on long duration space missions. NASA is committed to the safety of the missions and the crew, and there is an overwhelming emphasis on the reliability issues for space missions and the habitat. The cost-effective design of the spacecraft demands a very stringent requirement on the optimization process. Exposure from the hazards of severe space radiation in deep space and/or long duration missions is a critical design constraint and a potential 'show stopper'. Thus, protection from the hazards of severe space radiation is of paramount importance to the agency's vision. It is envisioned to have long duration human presence on the Moon for deep space exploration. The exposures from ionizing radiation - galactic cosmic radiation and solar particle events - and optimized shield design for a swing-by and a long duration Mars mission have been investigated. It is found that the technology of today is inadequate for safe human missions to Mars, and revolutionary technologies need to be developed for long duration and/or deep space missions. The study will provide a guideline for radiation exposure and protection for long duration missions and career astronauts and their safety.

Bird's Eye View of Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

This artist's concept shows NASA's future Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission over the red planet.

NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions.

The orbiter's shallow radar experiment, one of six science instruments on board, is designed to probe the internal structure of Mars' polar ice caps, as well as to gather information planet-wide about underground layers of ice, rock and, perhaps, liquid water, which might be accessible from the surface.

Recent Upgrades to the NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model: Applications to Mars' Water Cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollingsworth, Jeffery L.; Kahre, M. A.; Haberle, R. M.; Montmessin, F.; Wilson, R. J.; Schaeffer, J.

2008-09-01

We report on recent improvements to the NASA Ames Mars general circulation model (GCM), a robust 3D climate-modeling tool that is state-of-the-art in terms of its physics parameterizations and subgrid-scale processes, and which can be applied to investigate physical and dynamical processes of the present (and past) Mars climate system. The most recent version (gcm2.1, v.24) of the Ames Mars GCM utilizes a more generalized radiation code (based on a two-stream approximation with correlated k's); an updated transport scheme (van Leer formulation); a cloud microphysics scheme that assumes a log-normal particle size distribution whose first two moments are treated as atmospheric tracers, and which includes the nucleation, growth and sedimentation of ice crystals. Atmospheric aerosols (e.g., dust and water-ice) can either be radiatively active or inactive. We apply this version of the Ames GCM to investigate key aspects of the present water cycle on Mars. Atmospheric dust is partially interactive in our simulations; namely, the radiation code "sees" a prescribed distribution that follows the MGS thermal emission spectrometer (TES) year-one measurements with a self-consistent vertical depth scale that varies with season. The cloud microphysics code interacts with a transported dust tracer column whose surface source is adjusted to maintain the TES distribution. The model is run from an initially dry state with a better representation of the north residual cap (NRC) which accounts for both surface-ice and bare-soil components. A seasonally repeatable water cycle is obtained within five Mars years. Our sub-grid scale representation of the NRC provides for a more realistic flux of moisture to the atmosphere and a much drier water cycle consistent with recent spacecraft observations (e.g., Mars Express PFS, corrected MGS/TES) compared to models that assume a spatially uniform and homogeneous north residual polar cap.

PADME (Phobos And Deimos and Mars Environment): A Proposed NASA Discovery Mission to Investigate the Two Moons of Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Pascal; Benna, Mehdi; Britt, Daniel; Colaprete, Anthony; Davis, Warren; Delory, Greg; Elphic, Richard; Fulsang, Ejner; Genova, Anthony; Glavin, Daniel;

Parachute Testing for Mars Science Laboratory

NASA Image and Video Library

2007-12-20

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

Mars Express Seen by Mars Global Surveyor

NASA Image and Video Library

2005-05-19

This picture of the European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft by the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA Mars Global Surveyor is from the first successful imaging of any spacecraft orbiting Mars taken by another spacecraft orbiting Mars.

Design and Development of a Methane Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for Human Mars Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Percy, Thomas K.; Polsgrove, Tara; Turpin, Jason; Alexander, Leslie

2016-01-01

NASA is currently working on the Evolvabe Mars Campaign (EMC) study to outline transportation and mission options for human exploration of Mars. One of the key aspects of the EMC is leveraging current and planned near-term technology investments to build an affordable and evolvable approach to Mars exploration. This leveraging of investments includes the use of high-power Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) systems evolved from those currently under development in support of the Asteroid Redirect Mission to deliver payloads to Mars. The EMC is considering several transportation options that combine solar electric and chemical propulsion technologies to deliver crew and cargo to Mars. In one primary architecture option, the SEP propulsion system is used to pre-deploy mission elements to Mars while a high-thrust chemical propulsion system is used to send crew on faster ballistic transfers between Earth and Mars. This high-thrust chemical system uses liquid oxygen - liquid methane main propulsion and reaction control systems integrated into the Methane Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (MCPS). Over the past year, there have been several studies completed to provide critical design and development information related to the MCPS. This paper is intended to provide a summary of these efforts. A summary of the current point of departure design for the MCPS is provided as well as an overview of the mission architecture and concept of operations that the MCPS is intended to support. To leverage the capabilities of solar electric propulsion to the greatest extent possible, the EMC architecture pre-deploys the required stages for returning crew from Mars. While this changes the risk posture of the architecture, it provides mass savings by using higher-efficiency systems for interplanetary transfer. However, this does introduce significantly longer flight times to Mars which, in turn, increases the overall lifetime of the stages to as long as 3000 days. This unique aspect to the concept

Evolution of a Mars Airplane Concept for the ARES Mars Scout Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Stephen C.; Guynn, Mark D.; Smith, Stephen C.; Parks, Robert W.; Gelhausen, Paul A.

2004-01-01

ARES (Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey of Mars) is a proposed Mars Scout mission using an airplane to provide high-value science measurements in the areas of atmospheric chemistry, surface geology and mineralogy, and crustal magnetism. The use of an airplane for robotic exploration of Mars has been studied for over 25 years. There are, however, significant challenges associated with getting an airplane to Mars and flying through the thin, carbon dioxide Martian atmosphere. The traditional wisdom for aircraft design does not always apply for this type of vehicle and geometric, aerodynamic, and mission constraints result in a limited feasible design space. The ARES airplane design is the result of a concept exploration and evolution involving a number of trade studies, downselects, and design refinements. Industry, university, and NASA partners initially proposed a number of different concepts, drawing heavily on past Mars airplane design experience. Concept downselects were conducted with qualitative evaluation and high level analyses, focused on the most important parameters for the ARES mission. Following a successful high altitude test flight of the basic configuration, additional design refinement led to the current design. The resulting Mars airplane concept enables the high-value science objectives of the ARES mission to be accomplished while also fulfilling the desire for a simple, low-risk design.

Mars Solar Power

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Landis, Geoffrey A.; Kerslake, Thomas W.; Jenkins, Phillip P.; Scheiman, David A.

2004-01-01

NASA missions to Mars, both robotic and human, rely on solar arrays for the primary power system. Mars presents a number of challenges for solar power system operation, including a dusty atmosphere which modifies the spectrum and intensity of the incident solar illumination as a function of time of day, degradation of the array performance by dust deposition, and low temperature operation. The environmental challenges to Mars solar array operation will be discussed and test results of solar cell technology operating under Mars conditions will be presented, along with modeling of solar cell performance under Mars conditions. The design implications for advanced solar arrays for future Mars missions is discussed, and an example case, a Martian polar rover, are analyzed.

Our Newest Mission to Mars on This Week @NASA – May 5, 2018

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-05

Our newest mission to Mars is on its way, Vice President Pence visits our Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and observing our planet’s ever-changing water cycle – a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

Mars Sample Return in the Context of the Mars Exploration Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garvin, J. B.

2002-05-01

The scientific priorities developed for the scientific exploration of Mars by the Mars Exploration Program Assessment Group [MEPAG, 2001] and as part of the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX) recent assessment of the NASA Mars Exploration Program [COMPLEX, 2001] all involve a campaign of Mars Sample Return (MSR) missions. Such MSR missions are required to address in a definitive manner most of the highest priority investigations within overarching science themes which include: (1) biological potential (past or present); (2) climate (past or present); (3) solid planet (surface and interior, past and present); (4) knowledge necessary to prepare for eventual human exploration of Mars. NASA's current Mars Exploration Program (MEP) contains specific flight mission developments and plans only for the present decade (2002-2010), including a cascade of missions designed to set the stage for an inevitable campaign of MSR missions sometime in the second decade (2011-2020). Studies are presently underway to examine implementation options for a first MSR mission in which at least 500g of martian materials (including lithic fragments) would be returned to Earth from a landing vicinity carefully selected on the basis of the comprehensive orbital and surface-based remote sensing campaign that is ongoing (MGS, ODYSSEY) and planned (MER, MRO, 2009 MSL). Key to the first of several MSR's is attention to risk, cost, and enabling technologies that facilitate access to most scientifically-compelling martian materials at very local scales. The context for MSR's in the upcoming decade remains a vital part of NASA's scientific strategy for Mars exploration.

Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, Artist's Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

This illustration depicts a concept for NASA's Mars Telecommunications Orbiter in flight around Mars. The orbiter is in development to be the first spacecraft with a primary function of providing communication links while orbiting a foreign planet. The project's plans call for launch in September 2009, arrival at Mars in August 2010 and a mission of six to 10 years while in orbit. Mars Telecommunication Orbiter would serve as the Mars hub for an interplanetery Internet, greatly increasing the information payoff from other future Mars missions. The mission is designed to orbit Mars more than 10 times farther from the planet than orbiters dedicated primarily to science. The high-orbit design minimizes the time that Mars itself blocks the orbiter from communicating with Earth and maximizes the time that the orbiter is above the horizon -- thus capable of communications relay -- for rovers and stationary landers on Mars' surface.

Report of the NASA Science Definition Team for the Mars Science Orbiter (MSO)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Michael

2007-01-01

NASA is considering that its Mars Exploration Program (MEP) will launch an orbiter to Mars in the 2013 launch opportunity. To further explore this opportunity, NASA has formed a Science Definition Team (SDT) for this orbiter mission, provisionally called the Mars Science Orbiter (MSO). Membership and leadership of the SDT are given in Appendix 1. Dr. Michael D. Smith chaired the SDT. The purpose of the SDT was to define the: 1) Scientific objectives of an MSO mission to be launched to Mars no earlier than the 2013 launch opportunity, building on the findings for Plan A [Atmospheric Signatures and Near-Surface Change] of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) Second Science Analysis Group (SAG-2); 2) Science requirements of instruments that are most likely to make high priority measurements from the MSO platform, giving due consideration to the likely mission, spacecraft and programmatic constraints. The possibilities and opportunities for international partners to provide the needed instrumentation should be considered; 3) Desired orbits and mission profile for optimal scientific return in support of the scientific objectives, and the likely practical capabilities and the potential constraints defined by the science requirements; and 4) Potential science synergies with, or support for, future missions, such as a Mars Sample Return. This shall include imaging for evaluation and certification of future landing sites. As a starting point, the SDT was charged to assume spacecraft capabilities similar to those of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The SDT was further charged to assume that MSO would be scoped to support telecommunications relay of data from, and commands to, landed assets, over a 10 Earth year period following orbit insertion. Missions supported by MSO may include planned international missions such as EXOMARS. The MSO SDT study was conducted during October - December 2007. The SDT was directed to complete its work by December 15, 2007

Human Mars Ascent Configuration and Design Sensitivities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polsgrove, Tara P.; Gernhardt, Mike; Collins, Tim; Martin, John

2017-01-01

Human missions to Mars may utilize several small cabins where crew members could live for days up to a couple of weeks. At the end of a Mars surface mission the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) crew cabin would carry the crew to their destination in orbit in a matter of hours or days. Other small cabins in support of a Mars mission would include pressurized rovers that allow crew members to travel great distances from their primary habitat on Mars while unconstrained by time limits of typical EVAs. An orbital crew taxi could allow for exploration of the moons of Mars with minimum impact to the primary Earth-Mars transportation systems. A common crew cabin design that can perform in each of these applications is desired and could reduce the overall mission cost. However, for the MAV, the crew cabin size and mass can have a large impact on vehicle design and performance. The total ascent vehicle mass drives performance requirements for the Mars descent systems and the Earth to Mars transportation elements. Minimizing MAV mass is a priority and minimizing the crew cabin size and mass is one way to do that. This paper explores the benefits and impacts of using a common crew cabin design for the MAV. Results of a MAV configuration trade study will be presented along with mass and performance estimates for the selected design.

Mission Design Considerations for Mars Cargo of the Human Spaceflight Architecture Team's Evolvable Mars Campaign

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sjauw, Waldy K.; McGuire, Melissa L.; Freeh, Joshua E.

2016-01-01

Recent NASA interest in human missions to Mars has led to an Evolvable Mars Campaign by the agency's Human Architecture Team. Delivering the crew return propulsion stages and Mars surface landers, SEP based systems are employed because of their high specific impulse characteristics enabling missions requiring less propellant although with longer transfer times. The Earth departure trajectories start from an SLS launch vehicle delivery orbit and are spiral shaped because of the low SEP thrust. Previous studies have led to interest in assessing the divide in trip time between the Earth departure and interplanetary legs of the mission for a representative SEP cargo vehicle.

MarCO CubeSat Model

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-01-20

Joel Steinkraus, lead mechanical engineer for the MarCO (Mars Cube One) CubeSat spacecraft, adjusts a model of one of the two spacecraft. The mock-up in the photo is in a configuration to show the deployed position of components that correspond to MarCO's two solar panels and two antennas. During launch, those components will be stowed for a total vehicle size of about 14.4 inches (36.6 centimeters) by 9.5 inches (24.3 centimeters) by 4.6 inches (11.8 centimeters). The briefcase-size MarCO twins were designed to ride along with NASA's next Mars lander, InSight. Its planned March 2016 launch was suspended. InSight -- an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20344

The Mars Sample Return Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

O'Neil, W. J.; Cazaux, C.

2000-01-01

The Mars Sample Return (MSR) Project is underway. A 2003 mission to be launched on a Delta III Class vehicle and a 2005 mission launched on an Ariane 5 will culminate in carefully selected Mars samples arriving on Earth in 2008. NASA is the lead agency and will provide the Mars landed elements, namely, landers, rovers, and Mars ascent vehicles (MAVs). The French Space Agency CNES is the largest international partner and will provide for the joint NASA/CNES 2005 Mission the Ariane 5 launch and the Earth Return Mars Orbiter that will capture the sample canisters from the Mars parking orbits the MAVs place them in. The sample canisters will be returned to Earth aboard the CNES Orbiter in the Earth Entry Vehicles provided by NASA. Other national space agencies are also expected to participate in substantial roles. Italy is planning to provide a drill that will operate from the Landers to provide subsurface samples. Other experiments in addition to the MSR payload will also be carried on the Landers. This paper will present the current status of the design of the MSR missions and flight articles. c 2000 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Design and Development of a Methane Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for Human Mars Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Percy, Thomas K.; Polsgrove, Tara; Turpin, Jason; Alexander, Leslie

2016-01-01

NASA is currently working on the Evolvabe Mars Campaign (EMC) study to outline transportation and mission options for human exploration of Mars. One of the key aspects of the EMC is leveraging current and planned near-term technology investments to build an affordable and evolvable approach to Mars exploration. This leveraging of investments includes the use of high-power Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) systems, evolved from those currently under development in support of the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), to deliver payloads to Mars. The EMC is considering several transportation options that combine solar electric and chemical propulsion technologies to deliver crew and cargo to Mars. In one primary architecture option, the SEP propulsion system is used to pre-deploy mission elements to Mars while a high-thrust chemical propulsion system is used to send crew on faster ballistic transfers between Earth and Mars. This high-thrust chemical system uses liquid oxygen - liquid methane main propulsion and reaction control systems integrated into the Methane Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (MCPS). Over the past year, there have been several studies completed to provide critical design and development information related to the MCPS. This paper is intended to provide a summary of these efforts. A summary of the current point of departure design for the MCPS is provided as well as an overview of the mission architecture and concept of operations that the MCPS is intended to support. To leverage the capabilities of solar electric propulsion to the greatest extent possible, the EMC architecture pre-deploys to Mars orbit the stages required for returning crew from Mars. While this changes the risk posture of the architecture, it can provide some mass savings by using higher-efficiency systems for interplanetary transfer. However, this does introduce significantly longer flight times to Mars which, in turn, increases the overall lifetime of the stages to as long as 2500 days. This

Diverse Orbits Around Mars Graphic

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-05-04

This graphic depicts the relative shapes and distances from Mars for five active orbiter missions plus the planet's two natural satellites. It illustrates the potential for intersections of the spacecraft orbits. The number of active orbiter missions at Mars increased from three to five in 2014. With the increased traffic, NASA has augmented a process for anticipating orbit intersections and avoiding collisions. NASA's Mars Odyssey and MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) travel near-circular orbits. The European Space Agency's Mars Express, NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) and India's MOM (Mars Orbiter Mission), travel more elliptical orbits. Phobos and Deimos are the two natural moons of Mars. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19396

Mars Observer trajectory and orbit design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beerer, Joseph G.; Roncoli, Ralph B.

1991-01-01

The Mars Observer launch, interplanetary, Mars orbit insertion, and mapping orbit designs are described. The design objective is to enable a near-maximum spacecraft mass to be placed in orbit about Mars. This is accomplished by keeping spacecraft propellant requirements to a minimum, selecting a minimum acceptable launch period, equalizing the spacecraft velocity change requirement at the beginning and end of the launch period, and constraining the orbit insertion maneuvers to be coplanar. The mapping orbit design objective is to provide the opportunity for global observation of the planet by the science instruments while facilitating the spacecraft design. This is realized with a sun-synchronous near-polar orbit whose ground-track pattern covers the planet at progressively finer resolution.

In Brief: NASA's Phoenix spacecraft lands on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Showstack, Randy; Kumar, Mohi

2008-06-01

After a 9.5-month, 679-million-kilometer flight from Florida, NASA's Phoenix spacecraft made a soft landing in Vastitas Borealis in Mars's northern polar region on 25 May. The lander, whose camera already has returned some spectacular images, is on a 3-month mission to examine the area and dig into the soil of this site-chosen for its likelihood of having frozen water near the surface-and analyze samples. In addition to a robotic arm and robotic arm camera, the lander's instruments include a surface stereo imager; thermal and evolved-gas analyzer; microscopy, electrochemistry, and conductivity analyzer; and a meteorological station that is tracking daily weather and seasonal changes.

MarsQuest: Bringing the Excitement of Mars Exploration to the Public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dusenbery, P. B.; Morrow, C. A.; Harold, J. B.; Klug, S. L.

2002-12-01

We are living in an extraordinary era of Mars exploration. NASA's Odyssey spacecraft has recently discovered vast amounts of hydrogen beneath the surface of Mars, suggesting the presence of sub-surface ice. Two Mars Exploration Rovers are scheduled to land in early 2004. To bring the excitement and discoveries of Mars exploration to the public, the Space Science Institute (SSI) of Boulder, CO, has developed a comprehensive Mars Education Program that includes: 1) large and small traveling exhibits, 2) workshops for museum and classroom educators (in partnership with the Mars Education Program at Arizona State University (ASU)), and 3) an interactive Website called MarsQuest Online (in partnership with TERC and JPL). All three components will be presented and offered as a good model for actively involving scientists and their discoveries to improve science education in museums and the classroom. The centerpiece of SSI's Mars Education Program is the 5,000-square-foot traveling exhibition, MarsQuest: Exploring the Red Planet, which was developed with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and several corporate donors. The MarsQuest exhibit is nearing the end of a highly successful, fully-booked three-year tour. The Institute plans to send an enhanced and updated MarsQuest on a second three-year tour and is also developing Destination: Mars, a mini-version of MarsQuest designed for smaller venues. Workshops for museum educators, docents, and local teachers are conducted at host sites. These workshops were developed collaboratively by Dr. Cheri Morrow, SSI's Education and Public Outreach Manager, and Sheri Klug, Director of the Mars K-12 Education Program at ASU. They are designed to inspire and empower participants to extend the excitement and science content of the exhibitions into classrooms and museum-based education programs in an ongoing fashion. The MarsQuest Online project is developing a Website that will use the MarsQuest exhibit as a

MarsQuest: Bringing the Excitement of Mars Exploration to the Public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dusenbery, P. B.; Morrow, C. A.; Harold, J. B.; Klug, S. L.

2002-09-01

We are living in an extraordinary era of Mars exploration. NASA's Odyssey spacecraft has recently discovered vast amounts of hydrogen beneath the surface of Mars, suggesting the presence of sub-surface ice. Two Mars Exploration Rovers are scheduled to land in early 2004. To bring the excitement and discoveries of Mars exploration to the public, the Space Science Institute (SSI) of Boulder, CO, has developed a comprehensive Mars Education Program that includes: 1) large and small traveling exhibits, 2) workshops for museum and classroom educators (in partnership with the Mars Education Program at Arizona State University (ASU)), and 3) an interactive Website called MarsQuest Online (in partnership with TERC and JPL). All three components will be presented and offered as a good model for actively involving scientists and their discoveries to improve science education in museums and the classroom. The centerpiece of SSI's Mars Education Program is the 5,000-square-foot traveling exhibition, MarsQuest: Exploring the Red Planet, which was developed with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and several corporate donors. The MarsQuest exhibit is nearing the end of a highly successful, fully-booked three-year tour. The Institute plans to send an enhanced and updated MarsQuest on a second three-year tour and is also developing Destination: Mars, a mini-version of MarsQuest designed for smaller venues. Workshops for museum educators, docents, and local teachers are conducted at host sites. These workshops were developed collaboratively by Dr. Cheri Morrow, SSI's Education and Public Outreach Manager, and Sheri Klug, Director of the Mars K-12 Education Program at ASU. They are designed to inspire and empower participants to extend the excitement and science content of the exhibitions into classrooms and museum-based education programs in an ongoing fashion. The MarsQuest Online project is developing a Website that will use the MarsQuest exhibit as a

Optical designs for the Mars '03 rover cameras

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Gregory H.; Hagerott, Edward C.; Scherr, Lawrence M.; Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.; Bell, James F.

2001-12-01

In 2003, NASA is planning to send two robotic rover vehicles to explore the surface of Mars. The spacecraft will land on airbags in different, carefully chosen locations. The search for evidence indicating conditions favorable for past or present life will be a high priority. Each rover will carry a total of ten cameras of five various types. There will be a stereo pair of color panoramic cameras, a stereo pair of wide- field navigation cameras, one close-up camera on a movable arm, two stereo pairs of fisheye cameras for hazard avoidance, and one Sun sensor camera. This paper discusses the lenses for these cameras. Included are the specifications, design approaches, expected optical performances, prescriptions, and tolerances.

Extending the NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model to Explore Mars’ Middle Atmosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brecht, Amanda; Hollingsworth, J.; Kahre, M.; Schaeffer, J.

2013-10-01

The NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model (MGCM) upper boundary has been extended to ~120 km altitude (p ~10-5 mbar). The extension of the MGCM upper boundary initiates the ability to understand the connection between the lower and upper atmosphere of Mars through the middle atmosphere 70 - 120 km). Moreover, it provides the opportunity to support future missions (i.e. the 2013 MAVEN mission). A major factor in this extension is the incorporation of the Non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE) heating (visible) and cooling (infrared). This modification to the radiative transfer forcing (i.e., RT code) has been significantly tested in a 1D vertical column and now has been ported to the full 3D Mars GCM. Initial results clearly show the effects of NLTE in the upper middle atmosphere. Diagnostic of seasonal mean fields and large-scale wave activity will be shown with insight into circulation patterns in the middle atmosphere. Furthermore, sensitivity tests with the resolution of the pressure and temperature grids, in which the k-coefficients are calculated upon, have been performed in the 1D RT code. Our progress on this research will be presented. Brecht is supported by NASA’s Postdoctoral Program at the Ames Research Center, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities through a contract with NASA.

Mars Science Laboratory Heatshield Flight Data Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mahzari, Milad; White, Todd

2017-01-01

NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which landed the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on August 5th, 2012, was the largest and heaviest Mars entry vehicle representing a significant advancement in planetary entry, descent and landing capability. Hypersonic flight performance data was collected using MSLs on-board sensors called Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI). This talk will give an overview of MSL entry and a description of MEDLI sensors. Observations from flight data will be examined followed by a discussion of analysis efforts to reconstruct surface heating from heatshields in-depth temperature measurements. Finally, a brief overview of MEDLI2 instrumentation, which will fly on NASAs Mars2020 mission, will be presented with a discussion on how lessons learned from MEDLI data affected the design of MEDLI2 instrumentation.

Distant Perspective of MarCOs Cruise in Deep Space

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-29

An artist's rendering of the twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft on their cruise in deep space. The MarCOs will be the first CubeSats -- a kind of modular, mini-satellite -- attempting to fly to another planet. They're designed to fly along behind NASA's InSight lander on its cruise to Mars. If they make the journey, they will test a relay of data about InSight's entry, descent and landing back to Earth. Though InSight's mission will not depend on the success of the MarCOs, they will be a test of how CubeSats can be used in deep space. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22315

Mars mission science operations facilities design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norris, Jeffrey S.; Wales, Roxana; Powell, Mark W.; Backes, Paul G.; Steinke, Robert C.

2002-01-01

A variety of designs for Mars rover and lander science operations centers are discussed in this paper, beginning with a brief description of the Pathfinder science operations facility and its strengths and limitations. Particular attention is then paid to lessons learned in the design and use of operations facilities for a series of mission-like field tests of the FIDO prototype Mars rover. These lessons are then applied to a proposed science operations facilities design for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission. Issues discussed include equipment selection, facilities layout, collaborative interfaces, scalability, and dual-purpose environments. The paper concludes with a discussion of advanced concepts for future mission operations centers, including collaborative immersive interfaces and distributed operations. This paper's intended audience includes operations facility and situation room designers and the users of these environments.

Mission and Navigation Design for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

D'Amario, Louis A.

2008-01-01

NASA s Mars Science Laboratory mission will launch the next mobile science laboratory to Mars in the fall of 2009 with arrival at Mars occurring in the summer of 2010. A heat shield, parachute, and rocket-powered descent stage, including a sky crane, will be used to land the rover safely on the surface of Mars. The direction of the atmospheric entry vehicle lift vector will be controlled by a hypersonic entry guidance algorithm to compensate for entry trajectory errors and counteract atmospheric and aerodynamic dispersions. The key challenges for mission design are (1) develop a launch/arrival strategy that provides communications coverage during the Entry, Descent, and Landing phase either from an X-band direct-to-Earth link or from a Ultra High Frequency link to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for landing latitudes between 30 deg North and 30 deg South, while satisfying mission constraints on Earth departure energy and Mars atmospheric entry speed, and (2) generate Earth-departure targets for the Atlas V-541 launch vehicle for the specified launch/arrival strategy. The launch/arrival strategy employs a 30-day baseline launch period and a 27-day extended launch period with varying arrival dates at Mars. The key challenges for navigation design are (1) deliver the spacecraft to the atmospheric entry interface point (Mars radius of 3522.2 km) with an inertial entry flight path angle error of +/- 0.20 deg (3 sigma), (2) provide knowledge of the entry state vector accurate to +/- 2.8 km (3 sigma) in position and +/- 2.0 m/s (3 sigma) in velocity for initializing the entry guidance algorithm, and (3) ensure a 99% probability of successful delivery at Mars with respect to available cruise stage propellant. Orbit determination is accomplished via ground processing of multiple complimentary radiometric data types: Doppler, range, and Delta-Differential One-way Ranging (a Very Long Baseline Interferometry measurement). The navigation strategy makes use of up to five

Mars Lander/Rover vehicle development: An advanced space design project for USRA and NASA/OAST

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

The results of the studies on one particular part of the Mars Lander/Rover (MLR) system are contained: the Balloon Rover. This component vehicle was selected for further research and design because of the lack of technical literature on this subject, as compared to surface rover technology. Landing site selection; balloon system development and deployment; optics and communications; and the payload power supply are described.

Simulation and Spacecraft Design: Engineering Mars Landings.

PubMed

Conway, Erik M

2015-10-01

A key issue in history of technology that has received little attention is the use of simulation in engineering design. This article explores the use of both mechanical and numerical simulation in the design of the Mars atmospheric entry phases of the Viking and Mars Pathfinder missions to argue that engineers used both kinds of simulation to develop knowledge of their designs' likely behavior in the poorly known environment of Mars. Each kind of simulation could be used as a warrant of the other's fidelity, in an iterative process of knowledge construction.

Overview of the MARS Laser Communications Demonstration Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edward, Bernard L.; Townes, Stephen A.; Bondurant, Roy S.; Scozzafava, Joseph J.; Boroson, Don M.; Parvin, Ben A.; Biswas, Abhijit; Pillsbury, Alan D.; Khatri, Farzana I.; Burnside, Jamie W.

2003-01-01

This paper provides an overview of the Mars Laser Communications Demonstration Project, a joint project between NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (JPL), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL). It reviews the strawman designs for the flight and ground segments, the critical technologies required, and the concept of operations. It reports preliminary conclusions from the Mars Lasercom Study conducted at MIT/LL and on additional work done at JPL and GSFC. The lasercom flight terminal will be flown on the Mars Telecom Orbiter (MTO) to be launched by NASA in 2009, and will demonstrate a technology which has the potential of vastly improving NASA s ability to communicate throughout the solar system.

Design of a Mars Airplane Propulsion System for the Aerial Regional-Scale Environmental Survey (ARES) Mission Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuhl. Christopher A.

2009-01-01

The Aerial Regional-Scale Environmental Survey (ARES) is a Mars exploration mission concept with the goal of taking scientific measurements of the atmosphere, surface, and subsurface of Mars by using an airplane as the payload platform. ARES team first conducted a Phase-A study for a 2007 launch opportunity, which was completed in May 2003. Following this study, significant efforts were undertaken to reduce the risk of the atmospheric flight system, under the NASA Langley Planetary Airplane Risk Reduction Project. The concept was then proposed to the Mars Scout program in 2006 for a 2011 launch opportunity. This paper summarizes the design and development of the ARES airplane propulsion subsystem beginning with the inception of the ARES project in 2002 through the submittal of the Mars Scout proposal in July 2006.

Overview of the Mars Science Laboratory Parachute Decelerator Subsystem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sengupta, Anita; Steltzner, Adam; Witkowski, Al; Rowan, Jerry; Cruz, Juan

2007-01-01

In 2010 the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission will deliver NASA's largest and most capable rover to the surface of Mars. MSL will explore previously unattainable landing sites due to the implementation of a high precision Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) system. The parachute decelerator subsystem (PDS) is an integral prat of the EDL system, providing a mass and volume efficient some of aerodynamic drag to decelerate the entry vehicle from Mach 2 to subsonic speeds prior to final propulsive descent to the sutface. The PDS for MSL is a mortar deployed 19.7m Viking type Disk-Gap-Band (DGB) parachute; chosen to meet the EDL timeline requirements and to utilize the heritage parachute systems from Viking, Mars Pathfinder, Mars Exploration Rover, and Phoenix NASA Mars Lander Programs. The preliminary design of the parachute soft goods including materials selection, stress analysis, fabrication approach, and development testing will be discussed. The preliminary design of mortar deployment system including mortar system sizing and performance predictions, gas generator design, and development mortar testing will also be presented.

Evaluating Mars Science Laboratory Landing Sites with the Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM 2005)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Justh, H. L.; Justus, C. G.

2008-01-01

The Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM) is an engineering-level atmospheric model widely used for diverse mission applications. Mars-GRAM s perturbation modeling capability is commonly used, in a Monte-Carlo mode, to perform high fidelity engineering end-to-end simulations for entry, descent, and landing (EDL) [1]. From the surface to 80 km altitude, Mars-GRAM is based on the NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model (MGCM). Mars-GRAM and MGCM use surface topography from Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), with altitudes referenced to the MOLA areoid, or constant potential surface. Traditional Mars-GRAM options for representing the mean atmosphere along entry corridors include: (1) Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) mapping years 1 and 2, with Mars-GRAM data coming from NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model (MGCM) results driven by observed TES dust optical depth or (2) TES mapping year 0, with user-controlled dust optical depth and Mars-GRAM data interpolated from MGCM model results driven by selected values of globally-uniform dust optical depth. Mars-GRAM 2005 has been validated [2] against Radio Science data, and both nadir and limb data from TES [3]. There are several new features included in Mars-GRAM 2005. The first is the option to use input data sets from MGCM model runs that were designed to closely simulate conditions observed during the first two years of TES observations at Mars. The TES Year 1 option includes values from April 1999 through January 2001. The TES Year 2 option includes values from February 2001 through December 2002. The second new feature is the option to read and use any auxiliary profile of temperature and density versus altitude. In exercising the auxiliary profile Mars-GRAM option, values from the auxiliary profile replace data from the original MGCM databases. Some examples of auxiliary profiles include data from TES nadir or limb observations and Mars mesoscale model output at a particular

Mars Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-08-04

Colin Dundas, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, speaks during a briefing, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars. Dark, finger-like features appear and extend down some Martian slopes during late spring through summer, fade in winter, and return during the next spring. Repeated observations have tracked the seasonal changes in these recurring features on several steep slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars' southern hemisphere. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

Mid-Lift-to-Drag Ratio Rigid Vehicle Control System Design and Simulation for Human Mars Entry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Breanna J.; Cerimele, Christopher J.; Stachowiak, Susan J.; Sostaric, Ronald R.; Matz, Daniel A.; Lu, Ping

2018-01-01

The Mid-Lift-to-Drag Ratio Rigid Vehicle (MRV) is a proposed candidate in the NASA Evolvable Mars Campaign's (EMC) Pathfinder Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) architecture study. The purpose of the study is to design a mission and vehicle capable of transporting a 20mt payload to the surface of Mars. The MRV is unique in its rigid, asymmetrical lifting-body shape which enables a higher lift-to-drag ratio (L/D) than the typical robotic Mars entry capsule vehicles that carry much less mass. This paper presents the formulation and six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) performance of the MRV's control system, which uses both aerosurfaces and a propulsive reaction control system (RCS) to affect longitudinal and lateral directional behavior.

Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM) and Database for Mission Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Justus, C. G.; Duvall, Aleta; Johnson, D. L.

2003-01-01

Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM 2001) is an engineering-level Mars atmosphere model widely used for many Mars mission applications. From 0-80 km, it is based on NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model, while above 80 km it is based on Mars Thermospheric General Circulation Model. Mars-GRAM 2001 and MGCM use surface topography from Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiting Laser Altimeter. Validation studies are described comparing Mars-GRAM with Mars Global Surveyor Radio Science and Thermal Emission Spectrometer data. RS data from 2480 profiles were used, covering latitudes 75 deg S to 72 deg N, surface to approximately 40 km, for seasons ranging from areocentric longitude of Sun (Ls) = 70-160 deg and 265-310 deg. RS data spanned a range of local times, mostly 0-9 hours and 18-24 hours. For interests in aerocapture and precision landing, comparisons concentrated on atmospheric density. At a fixed height of 20 km, RS density varied by about a factor of 2.5 over ranges of latitudes and Ls values observed. Evaluated at matching positions and times, these figures show average RSMars-GRAM density ratios were generally 1+/-)0.05, except at heights above approximately 25 km and latitudes above approximately 50 deg N. Average standard deviation of RSMars-GRAM density ratio was 6%. TES data were used covering surface to approximately 40 km, over more than a full Mars year (February, 1999 - June, 2001, just before start of a Mars global dust storm). Depending on season, TES data covered latitudes 85 deg S to 85 deg N. Most TES data were concentrated near local times 2 hours and 14 hours. Observed average TES/Mars-GRAM density ratios were generally 1+/-0.05, except at high altitudes (15-30 km, depending on season) and high latitudes (greater than 45 deg N), or at most altitudes in the southern hemisphere at Ls approximately 90 and 180 deg. Compared to TES averages for a given latitude and season, TES data had average density standard deviation about the mean of

Game Changing: NASA's Space Launch System and Science Mission Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Creech, Stephen D.

2013-01-01

NASA s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is directing efforts to build the Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will carry the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and other important payloads far beyond Earth orbit (BEO). Its evolvable architecture will allow NASA to begin with Moon fly-bys and then go on to transport humans or robots to distant places such as asteroids and Mars. Designed to simplify spacecraft complexity, the SLS rocket will provide improved mass margins and radiation mitigation, and reduced mission durations. These capabilities offer attractive advantages for ambitious missions such as a Mars sample return, by reducing infrastructure requirements, cost, and schedule. For example, if an evolved expendable launch vehicle (EELV) were used for a proposed mission to investigate the Saturn system, a complicated trajectory would be required - with several gravity-assist planetary fly-bys - to achieve the necessary outbound velocity. The SLS rocket, using significantly higher C3 energies, can more quickly and effectively take the mission directly to its destination, reducing trip time and cost. As this paper will report, the SLS rocket will launch payloads of unprecedented mass and volume, such as "monolithic" telescopes and in-space infrastructure. Thanks to its ability to co-manifest large payloads, it also can accomplish complex missions in fewer launches. Future analyses will include reviews of alternate mission concepts and detailed evaluations of SLS figures of merit, helping the new rocket revolutionize science mission planning and design for years to come.

Game changing: NASA's space launch system and science mission design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Creech, S. D.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is directing efforts to build the Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will carry the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and other important payloads far beyond Earth orbit (BEO). Its evolvable architecture will allow NASA to begin with Moon fly-bys and then go on to transport humans or robots to distant places such as asteroids and Mars. Designed to simplify spacecraft complexity, the SLS rocket will provide improved mass margins and radiation mitigation, and reduced mission durations. These capabilities offer attractive advantages for ambitious missions such as a Mars sample return, by reducing infrastructure requirements, cost, and schedule. For example, if an evolved expendable launch vehicle (EELV) were used for a proposed mission to investigate the Saturn system, a complicated trajectory would be required - with several gravity-assist planetary fly-bys - to achieve the necessary outbound velocity. The SLS rocket, using significantly higher characteristic energy (C3) energies, can more quickly and effectively take the mission directly to its destination, reducing trip time and cost. As this paper will report, the SLS rocket will launch payloads of unprecedented mass and volume, such as “ monolithic” telescopes and in-space infrastructure. Thanks to its ability to co-manifest large payloads, it also can accomplish complex missions in fewer launches. Future analyses will include reviews of alternate mission concepts and detailed evaluations of SLS figures of merit, helping the new rocket revolutionize science mission planning and design for years to come.

Conceptual Design and Dynamics Testing and Modeling of a Mars Tumbleweed Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Calhoun Philip C.; Harris, Steven B.; Raiszadeh, Behzad; Zaleski, Kristina D.

2005-01-01

The NASA Langley Research Center has been developing a novel concept for a Mars planetary rover called the Mars Tumbleweed. This concept utilizes the wind to propel the rover along the Mars surface, bringing it the potential to cover vast distances not possible with current Mars rover technology. This vehicle, in its deployed configuration, must be large and lightweight to provide the ratio of drag force to rolling resistance necessary to initiate motion from rest on the Mars surface. One Tumbleweed design concept that satisfies these considerations is called the Eggbeater-Dandelion. This paper describes the basic design considerations and a proposed dynamics model of the concept for use in simulation studies. It includes a summary of rolling/bouncing dynamics tests that used videogrammetry to better understand, characterize, and validate the dynamics model assumptions, especially the effective rolling resistance in bouncing/rolling dynamic conditions. The dynamics test used cameras to capture the motion of 32 targets affixed to a test article s outer structure. Proper placement of the cameras and alignment of their respective fields of view provided adequate image resolution of multiple targets along the trajectory as the test article proceeded down the ramp. Image processing of the frames from multiple cameras was used to determine the target positions. Position data from a set of these test runs was compared with results of a three dimensional, flexible dynamics model. Model input parameters were adjusted to match the test data for runs conducted. This process presented herein provided the means to characterize the dynamics and validate the simulation of the Eggbeater-Dandelion concept. The simulation model was used to demonstrate full scale Tumbleweed motion from a stationary condition on a flat-sloped terrain using representative Mars environment parameters.

Building Operations Efficiencies into NASA's Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dumbacher, Daniel

2006-01-01

The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration guides the National Aeronautics and Space Administration s (NASA's) challenging missions that expand humanity s boundaries and open new routes to the space frontier. With the Agency's commitment to complete the International Space Station (ISS) and to retire the venerable Space Shuttle by 2010, the NASA Administrator commissioned the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) in mid 2005 to analyze options for safe, simple, cost-efficient launch solutions that could deliver human-rated space transportation capabilities in a timely manner within fixed budget guidelines. The Exploration Launch Projects Office, chartered in October 2005, has been conducting systems engineering studies and business planning over the past few months to successively refine the design configurations and better align vehicle concepts with customer and stakeholder requirements, such as significantly reduced life-cycle costs. As the Agency begins the process of replacing the Shuttle with a new generation of spacecraft destined for missions beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, NASA is designing the follow-on crew and cargo launch systems for maximum operational efficiencies. To sustain the long-term exploration of space, it is imperative to reduce the $4.5 billion NASA typically spends on space transportation each year. This paper gives top-level information about how the follow-on Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) is being designed for improved safety and reliability, coupled with reduced operations costs.

A Mars Airplane . . . Oh really. [aerospaceplane design for Mars exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clarke, V. C., Jr.; Kerem, A.; Lewis, R.

1979-01-01

This paper describes the mission design, scientific utilization, and prototypical design of a Mars Airplane. As a scientific platform, the airplane provides an excellent means of obtaining data in a resolution range intermediate to surface vehicles and orbiters. It has great versatility to perform a variety of missions: conduct aerial surveys, land instrument packages, collect samples, and perform atmospheric sounding. The Mars Airplane has many characteristics of a competition glider on earth. Two versions of the plane, a cruiser, and one with soft landing and takeoff capability, have been designed. Maximum range and endurance are 10,000 km and 31.1 hours with a 40-kg payload.

The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) for the 209 Mars Science Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edgett, K. S.; Bell, J. F., III; Herkenhoff, K. E.; Heydari, E.; Kah, L. C.; Minitti, M. E.; Olson, T. S.; Rowland, S. K.; Schieber, J.; Sullivan, R. J.

2005-01-01

The MArs Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) is a small, RGB-color camera designed to examine geologic material at 12.5-75 microns/pixel resolution at the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) landing site. MAHLI is a PI-led investigation competitively selected by NASA in December 2004 as part of the science payload for the MSL rover launching in 2009. The instrument is being fabricated by, and will be operated by, Malin Space Science Systems of San Diego, California.

Making milestones on the journey to Mars on This Week @NASA – August 7, 2015

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-07

NASA’s Curiosity rover celebrated the 3-year anniversary of its landing on Mars recently. Since landing, Curiosity has driven nearly seven miles to its current location at Mount Sharp, and found evidence of past conditions suitable for microbial life. To mark the anniversary, NASA is unveiling two new online tools that will bring the Mars experience to a new generation of explorers. “Mars Trek” is a free, web-based application that uses more than 40 years of Mars exploration data, to provide high-quality imagery of the planet’s features. "Experience Curiosity" is a 3-D simulation program that also uses real data, to take viewers along with Curiosity during the rover’s expeditions on the Martian surface. Since NASA’s robotic explorers became the first to study the Red Planet, advances in technology have enabled Mars exploration missions to continue making important scientific discoveries and pave the way for humans to reach Mars in the 2030s. Also, Newman visits composites tech facility, Future ISS crews, CubeSat Launch Initiative and Look, up in the sky!

Mission Design Overview for Mars 2003/2005 Sample Return Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Wayne J.; DAmario, Louis A.; Roncoli, Ralph B.; Smith, John C.

2000-01-01

In May 2003, a new and exciting chapter in Mars exploration will begin with the launch of the first of three spacecraft that will collectively contribute toward the goal of delivering samples from the Red Planet to Earth. This mission is called Mars Sample Return (MSR) and will utilize both the 2003 and 2005 launch opportunities with an expected sample return in October 2008. NASA and CNES are major partners in this mission. The baseline mission mode selected for MSR is Mars orbit rendezvous (MOR), analogous in concept to the lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) mode used for Apollo in the 1960s. Specifically, MSR will employ two NASA-provided landers of nearly identical design and one CNES-provided orbiter carrying a NASA payload of rendezvous sensors, orbital capture mechanisms, and an Earth entry vehicle (EEV). The high-level concept is that the landers will launch surface samples into Mars orbit, and the orbiter will retrieve the samples in orbit and then carry them back to Earth. The first element to depart for Mars will be one of the two landers. Currently, it is proposed that an intermediate class launch vehicle, such as the Boeing Delta 3 or Lockheed Martin Atlas 3A, will launch this 1800-kg lander from Cape Canaveral during the May 2003 opportunity. The lander will utilize a Type-1 transfer trajectory with an arrival at Mars in mid-December 2003. Landing will be aided by precision approach navigation and a guided hypersonic entry to achieve a touchdown accuracy of 10 km or better. Although the exact landing site has not yet been determined, it is estimated that lander resource constraints will limit the site to between 15 degrees north and south latitudes. Following touchdown, the lander will deploy a six-wheeled, 60-kg rover carrying an extensive suite of instruments designed to aid in the analysis of the local terrain and collection of core samples from selected rocks. The surface mission is currently designed around a concept called the surface traverse. Each

Building Operations Efficiencies into NASA's Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dumbacher, Daniel L.; Davis, Stephan R.

2007-01-01

The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration guides the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) challenging missions that expand humanity's boundaries and open new routes to the space frontier. With the Agency's commitment to complete the International Space Station (ISS) and to retire the venerable Space Shuttle by 2010, the NASA Administrator commissioned the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) in 2005 to analyze options for safe, simple, cost-efficient launch solutions that could deliver human-rated space transportation capabilities in a timely manner within fixed budget guidelines. The Exploration Launch Projects (ELP) Office, chartered by the Constellation Program in October 2005, has been conducting systems engineering studies and business planning to successively refine the design configurations and better align vehicle concepts with customer and stakeholder requirements, such as significantly reduced life-cycle costs. As the Agency begins the process of replacing the Shuttle with a new generation of spacecraft destined for missions beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, NASA is designing the follow-on crew and cargo launch systems for maximum operational efficiencies. To sustain the long-term exploration of space, it is imperative to reduce the $4 billion NASA typically spends on space transportation each year. This paper gives toplevel information about how the follow-on Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) is being designed for improved safety and reliability, coupled with reduced operations costs. These methods include carefully developing operational requirements; conducting operability design and analysis; using the latest information technology tools to design and simulate the vehicle; and developing a learning culture across the workforce to ensure a smooth transition between Space Shuttle operations and Ares vehicle development.

Mars Rock Analysis Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-03-12

Paul Mahaffy (right), principal investigator for Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) investigation at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, demonstrates how the SAM instrument drilled and captured rock samples on the surface of Mars at a news conference, Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The analysis of the rock sample collected shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Artist Concept of Mars 2020 Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-07-09

Planning for NASA 2020 Mars rover envisions a basic structure that capitalizes on existing design and engineering, but with new science instruments selected through competition for accomplishing different science objectives.

Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning, 1950-2000

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Portree, David S. F.

2001-01-01

Contents of this document include: On the Grand Scale; Earliest NASA Concepts; EMPIRE and After; A Hostile Environment; Apogee; Viking and the Resources of Mars; The Case for Mars; Challengers; Space Exploration Initiative; and Design Reference Mission.

A Mars Riometer: Antenna Considerations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fry, Craig D.

2001-01-01

This is the final report on NASA Grant NAG5-9706. This project explored riometer (relative ionospheric opacity meter) antenna designs that would be practical for a Mars surface or balloon mission. The riometer is an important radio science instrument for terrestrial aeronomy investigations. The riometer measures absorption of cosmic radio waves by the overhead ionosphere. Studies have shown the instrument should work well on Mars, which has an appreciable daytime ionosphere. There has been concern that the required radio receiver antenna (with possibly a 10 meter scale size) would be too large or too difficult to deploy on Mars. This study addresses those concerns and presents several antenna designs and deployment options. It is found that a Mars balloon would provide an excellent platform for the riometer antenna. The antenna can be incorporated into the envelope design, allowing self-deployment of the antenna as the balloon inflates.

NASA Mars rover: a testbed for evaluating applications of covariance intersection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uhlmann, Jeffrey K.; Julier, Simon J.; Kamgar-Parsi, Behzad; Lanzagorta, Marco O.; Shyu, Haw-Jye S.

1999-07-01

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has spearheaded the development and application of Covariance Intersection (CI) for a variety of decentralized data fusion problems. Such problems include distributed control, onboard sensor fusion, and dynamic map building and localization. In this paper we describe NRL's development of a CI-based navigation system for the NASA Mars rover that stresses almost all aspects of decentralized data fusion. We also describe how this project relates to NRL's augmented reality, advanced visualization, and REBOT projects.

MARS-OZ - A Design for a Simulated Mars Base in the Australian Outback

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willson, D.; Clarke, J. D. A.; Murphy, G.

Mars Society Australia has developed the design of a simulated Mars base, MARS-OZ, for deployment in outback Australia. MARS-OZ will provide a platform for a diverse range of Mars analogue research in Australia. The simulated base consists of two mobile modules whose dimensions and shape approximate those of horizontally landed bent biconic spacecraft described in an earlier paper. The modules are designed to support field engineering, robotics, architectural, geological, biological and human factors research at varying levels of simulation fidelity. Non-Mars related research can also be accommodated, for example general field geology and biology, and engineering research associated with sustainable, low impact architecture. Crews of up to eight can be accommodated. In addition to its research function, the base also will serve as a centre of space education and outreach activities. The prime site for the MARS-OZ simulated base is located in the northern Flinders Ranges near Arkaroola in South Australia. This region contains many features that provide useful scientific analogues to known or possible past and present conditions on Mars from both a geological and biological perspective. The features will provide a wealth of study opportunities for crews. The very diverse terrain and regolith materials will provide ideal opportunities to field trial a range of equipment, sensors and exploration strategies. If needed, the prime site can be secured from casual visitors, allowing research into human interaction in isolation. Despite its relative isolation, the site is readily accessible by road and air from major Australian centres. This paper provides description of the configuration, design and construction of the proposed facility, its interior layout, equipment and systems fitouts, a detailed cost estimate, and its deployment. We estimate that the deployment of MARS-OZ could occur within nine months of securing funding.

Mars Ascent Vehicle Gross Lift-off Mass Sensitivities for Robotic Mars Sample Return

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dux, Ian J.; Huwaldt, Joseph A.; McKamey, R. Steve; Dankanich, John W.

2011-01-01

The Mars ascent vehicle is a critical element of the robotic Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. The Mars ascent vehicle must be developed to survive a variety of conditions including the trans-Mars journey, descent through the Martian atmosphere and the harsh Martian surface environments while maintaining the ability to deliver its payload to a low Mars orbit. The primary technology challenge of developing the Mars ascent vehicle system is designing for all conditions while ensuring the mass limitations of the entry descent and landing system are not exceeded. The NASA In-Space Propulsion technology project has initiated the development of Mars ascent vehicle technologies with propulsion system performance and launch environments yet to be defined. To support the project s evaluation and development of various technology options the sensitivity of the Mars ascent vehicle gross lift-off mass to engine performance, inert mass, target orbits, and launch conditions has been completed with the results presented herein.

The Panoramic Camera (Pancam) Investigation on the NASA 2003 Mars Exploration Rover Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bell, J. F., III; Squyres, S. W.; Herkenhoff, K. E.; Maki, J.; Schwochert, M.; Dingizian, A.; Brown, D.; Morris, R. V.; Arneson, H. M.; Johnson, M. J.

2003-01-01

The Panoramic Camera System (Pancam) is part of the Athena science payload to be launched to Mars in 2003 on NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions. The Pancam imaging system on each rover consists of two major components: a pair of digital CCD cameras, and the Pancam Mast Assembly (PMA), which provides the azimuth and elevation actuation for the cameras as well as a 1.5 meter high vantage point from which to image. Pancam is a multispectral, stereoscopic, panoramic imaging system, with a field of regard provided by the PMA that extends across 360 of azimuth and from zenith to nadir, providing a complete view of the scene around the rover.

Mars Curiosity mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-04

NASA welcomed hundreds of children and accompanying adults to its INFINITY visitor center on Aug. 4, offering Mars-related activities that focused attention on the space agency's Curiosity mission to the Red Planet. Parents and children, such as Myron and Trey (age 3) Cummings, enjoyed exploring Mars using an interactive touch table. Midway through the day of activities, visitors in the Science on a Sphere auditorium also enjoyed a presentation on Mars and the Curiosity mission by Dr. Steven Williams, a NASA expert on Mars.

Mars Rover/Sample Return (MRSR) Mission: Mars Rover Technology Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

A return to the surface of Mars has long been an objective of NASA mission planners. The ongoing Mars Rover and Sample Return (MRSR) mission study represents the latest stage in that interest. As part of NASA's preparation for a possible MRSR mission, a technology planning workshop was held to attempt to define technology requirements, options, and preliminary plans for the principal areas of Mars rover technology. The proceedings of that workshop are presented.

Telecommunications and navigation systems design for manned Mars exploration missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, Justin R.; Hastrup, Rolf C.

1989-06-01

This paper discusses typical manned Mars exploration needs for telecommunications, including preliminary navigation support functions. It is a brief progress report on an ongoing study program within the current NASA JPL Deep Space Network (DSN) activities. A typical Mars exploration case is defined, and support approaches comparing microwave and optical frequency performance for both local in situ and Mars-earth links are described. Optical telecommunication and navigation technology development opportunities in a Mars exploration program are also identified. A local Mars system telecommunication relay and navigation capability for service support of all Mars missions has been proposed as part of an overall solar system communications network. The effects of light-time delay and occultations on real-time mission decision-making are discussed; the availability of increased local mass data storage may be more important than increasing peak data rates to earth. The long-term frequency use plan will most likely include a mix of microwave, millimeter-wave and optical link capabilities to meet a variety of deep space mission needs.

Telecommunications and navigation systems design for manned Mars exploration missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Justin R.; Hastrup, Rolf C.

1989-01-01

This paper discusses typical manned Mars exploration needs for telecommunications, including preliminary navigation support functions. It is a brief progress report on an ongoing study program within the current NASA JPL Deep Space Network (DSN) activities. A typical Mars exploration case is defined, and support approaches comparing microwave and optical frequency performance for both local in situ and Mars-earth links are described. Optical telecommunication and navigation technology development opportunities in a Mars exploration program are also identified. A local Mars system telecommunication relay and navigation capability for service support of all Mars missions has been proposed as part of an overall solar system communications network. The effects of light-time delay and occultations on real-time mission decision-making are discussed; the availability of increased local mass data storage may be more important than increasing peak data rates to earth. The long-term frequency use plan will most likely include a mix of microwave, millimeter-wave and optical link capabilities to meet a variety of deep space mission needs.

Inheriting Curiosity: Leveraging MBSE to Build Mars2020

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fosse, Elyse; Harmon, Corey; Lefland, Mallory; Castillo, Robert; Devereaux, Ann

2015-01-01

The success of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) Martian mission Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) prompted NASA to challenge JPL to build a second rover, Mars2020. Mars2020 has chosen to infuse Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) in pursuit of aiding the design of the Flight System. This paper will derive the motivation for MBSE infusion and will explain the current state of the Mars2020 Flight System Model. Successes in MBSE adoption will be discussed, as will limitations to the methodology.

Launching to the Moon, Mars, and Beyond

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shivers, C. Herbert

2008-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the planned launching to the Moon, and Mars. It is important to build beyond the capacity to ferry astronauts and cargo to low Earth orbit. NASA is starting to design new vehicles using the past lessons to minimize cost, and technical risks. The training and education of engineers that will continue the work of designing, testing and flying the vehicles is important to NASA.

Mars Curiosity mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-04

NASA welcomed hundreds of children and accompanying adults to its INFINITY visitor center on Aug. 4, offering Mars-related activities that focused attention on the space agency's Curiosity mission to the Red Planet. Parents and children, such as Myron and Trey (age 3) Cummings, enjoyed exploring Mars using an interactive touch table (top right photo). Midway through the day of activities, visitors in the Science on a Sphere auditorium also enjoyed a presentation on Mars and the Curiosity mission by Dr. Steven Williams, a NASA expert on Mars.

Testing a Parachute for Mars in World Largest Wind Tunnel

NASA Image and Video Library

2007-12-20

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

Design of Superconducting Gravity Gradiometer Cryogenic System for Mars Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, X.; Lemoine, F. G.; Paik, H. J.; Zagarola, M.; Shirron, P. J.; Griggs, C. E.; Moody, M. V.; Han, S.-C.

2016-01-01

Measurement of a planet's gravity field provides fundamental information about the planet's mass properties. The static gravity field reveals information about the internal structure of the planet, including crustal density variations that provide information on the planet's geological history and evolution. The time variations of gravity result from the movement of mass inside the planet, on the surface, and in the atmosphere. NASA is interested in a Superconducting Gravity Gradiometer (SGG) with which to measure the gravity field of a planet from orbit. An SGG instrument is under development with the NASA PICASSO program, which will be able to resolve the Mars static gravity field to degree 200 in spherical harmonics, and the time-varying field on a monthly basis to degree 20 from a 255 x 320 km orbit. The SGG has a precision two orders of magnitude better than the electrostatic gravity gradiometer that was used on the ESA's GOCE mission. The SGG operates at the superconducting temperature lower than 6 K. This study developed a cryogenic thermal system to maintain the SGG at the design temperature in Mars orbit. The system includes fixed radiation shields, a low thermal conductivity support structure and a two-stage cryocooler. The fixed radiation shields use double aluminized polyimide to emit heat from the warm spacecraft into the deep space. The support structure uses carbon fiber reinforced plastic, which has low thermal conductivity at cryogenic temperature and very high stress. The low vibration cryocooler has two stages, of which the high temperature stage operates at 65 K and the low temperature stage works at 6 K, and the heat rejection radiator works at 300 K. The study also designed a second option with a 4-K adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) and two-stage 10-K turbo-Brayton cooler.

Design of Superconducting Gravity Gradiometer Cryogenic System for Mars Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, X.; Lemoine, F. G.; Shirron, P. J.; Paik, H. J.; Griggs, C. E.; Moody, M. V.; Han, S. C.; Zagarola, M.

2016-01-01

Measurement of a planets gravity field provides fundamental information about the planets mass properties. The static gravity field reveals information about the internal structure of the planet, including crustal density variations that provide information on the planets geological history and evolution. The time variations of gravity result from the movement of mass inside the planet, on the surface, and in the atmosphere. NASA is interested in a Superconducting Gravity Gradiometer (SGG) with which to measure the gravity field of a planet from orbit. An SGG instrument is under development with the NASA PICASSO program, which will be able to resolve the Mars static gravity field to degree 200 in spherical harmonics, and the time-varying field on a monthly basis to degree 20 from a 255 x 320 km orbit. The SGG has a precision two orders of magnitude better than the electrostatic gravity gradiometer that was used on the ESAs GOCE mission. The SGG operates at the superconducting temperature lower than 6 K. This study developed a cryogenic thermal system to maintain the SGG at the design temperature in Mars orbit. The system includes fixed radiation shields, a low thermal conductivity support structure and a two-stage cryocooler. The fixed radiation shields use double aluminized polyimide to emit heat from the warm spacecraft into the deep space. The support structure uses carbon fiber reinforced plastic, which has low thermal conductivity at cryogenic temperature and very high stress. The low vibration cryocooler has two stages, of which the high temperature stage operates at 65 K and the low temperature stage works at 6 K, and the heat rejection radiator works at 300 K. The study also designed a second option with a 4-K adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) and two-stage 10-K turbo-Brayton cooler.

JPL Tech Works Mars 2020 Descent Stage

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-13

A technician works on the descent stage for NASA's Mars 2020 mission inside JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. Mars 2020 is slated to carry NASA's next Mars rover to the Red Planet in July of 2020. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22342

Advantages of a Modular Mars Surface Habitat Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rucker, Michelle A.; Hoffman, Stephan J.; Andrews, Alida; Watts, Kevin

2018-01-01

Early crewed Mars mission concepts developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) assumed a single, large habitat would house six crew members for a 500-day Mars surface stay. At the end of the first mission, all surface equipment, including the habitat, -would be abandoned and the process would be repeated at a different Martian landing site. This work was documented in a series of NASA publications culminating with the Mars Design Reference Mission 5.0 (NASA-SP-2009-566). The Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) explored whether re-using surface equipment at a single landing site could be more affordable than the Apollo-style explore-abandon-repeat mission cadence. Initial EMC assumptions preserved the single, monolithic habitat, the only difference being a new requirement to reuse the surface habitat for multiple expedition crews. A trade study comparing a single large habitat versus smaller, modular habitats leaned towards the monolithic approach as more mass-efficient. More recent work has focused on the operational aspects of building up Mars surface infrastructure over multiple missions, and has identified compelling advantages of the modular approach that should be considered before making a final decision. This paper explores Mars surface mission operational concepts and integrated system analysis, and presents an argument for the modular habitat approach.

Size Contrast for Mars CubeSat

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-06-12

The full-scale mock-up of NASA's MarCO CubeSat held by Farah Alibay, a systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is dwarfed by the one-half-scale model of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter behind her. MarCO, short for Mars Cube One, is the first interplanetary use of CubeSat technologies for small spacecraft. JPL is preparing two MarCO twins for launch in March 2016. They will ride along on an Atlas V launch vehicle lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with NASA's next Mars lander, InSight. MarCO is a technology demonstration aspect of the InSight mission. The mock-up in the photo is in a configuration to show the deployed position of components that correspond to MarCO's two solar panels and two antennas. During launch, those components will be stowed for a total vehicle size of about 14.4 inches (36.6 centimeters) by 9.5 inches (24.3 centimeters) by 4.6 inches (11.8 centimeters). After launch, the two MarCO CubeSats and InSight will be navigated separately to Mars. The MarCO twins will fly past the planet in September 2016 just as InSight is descending through the atmosphere and landing on the surface. MarCO is a technology demonstration to relay communications from InSight to Earth during InSight's descent and landing. InSight communications during that critical period will also be recorded by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for delayed transmission to Earth. InSight -- an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport -- will study the interior of Mars to improve understanding of the processes that formed and shaped rocky planets, including Earth. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa

Artist Concept of Mars 2020 Rover, Annotated

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-07-09

Planning for NASA 2020 Mars rover envisions a basic structure that capitalizes on existing design and engineering, but with new science instruments selected through competition for accomplishing different science objectives.

Report on the survey for electrostatic discharges on Mars using NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arabshahi, S.; Majid, W.; Geldzahler, B.; Kocz, J.; Schulter, T.; White, L.

2017-12-01

Mars atmosphere has strong dust activity. It is suggested that the larger regional storms are capable of producing electric fields large enough to initiate electrostatic discharges. The storms have charging process similar to terrestrial dust devils and have hot cores and complicated vortex winds similar to terrestrial thunderstorms. However, due to uncertainties in our understanding of the electrical environment of the storms and absence of related in-situ measurements, the existence (or non-existence) of such electrostatic discharges on the planet is yet to be confirmed. Knowing about the electrical activity on Mars is essential for future human explorations of the planet. We have recently launched a long-term monitoring campaign at NASA's Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex (MDSCC) to search for powerful discharges on Mars. The search occurs during routine tracking of Mars orbiting spacecraft by Deep Space Network (DSN) radio telescope. In this presentation, we will report on the result of processing and analysis of the data from the first six months of our campaign.

Analysis of a spacecraft life support system for a Mars mission.

PubMed

Czupalla, M; Aponte, V; Chappell, S; Klaus, D

2004-01-01

This report summarizes a trade study conducted as part of the Fall 2002 semester Spacecraft Life Support System Design course (ASEN 5116) in the Aerospace Engineering Sciences Department at the University of Colorado. It presents an analysis of current life support system technologies and a preliminary design of an integrated system for supporting humans during transit to and on the surface of the planet Mars. This effort was based on the NASA Design Reference Mission (DRM) for the human exploration of Mars [NASA Design Reference Mission (DRM) for Mars, Addendum 3.0, from the world wide web: http://exploration.jsc.nasa.gov/marsref/contents.html.]. The integrated design was broken into four subsystems: Water Management, Atmosphere Management, Waste Processing, and Food Supply. The process started with the derivation of top-level requirements from the DRM. Additional system and subsystem level assumptions were added where clarification was needed. Candidate technologies were identified and characterized based on performance factors. Trade studies were then conducted for each subsystem. The resulting technologies were integrated into an overall design solution using mass flow relationships. The system level trade study yielded two different configurations--one for the transit to Mars and another for the surface habitat, which included in situ resource utilization. Equivalent System Mass analyses were used to compare each design against an open-loop (non-regenerable) baseline system. c2003 International Astronautical Federation. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using Mean Orbit Period in Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Maneuver Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chung, Min-Kun J.; Menon, Premkumar R.; Wagner, Sean V.; Williams, Jessica L.

2014-01-01

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has provided communication relays for a number of Mars spacecraft. In 2016 MRO is expected to support a relay for NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft. In addition, support may be needed by another mission, ESA's ExoMars EDL Demonstrator Module's (EDM), only 21 days after the InSight coverage. The close proximity of these two events presents a unique challenge to a conventional orbit synchronization maneuver where one deterministic maneuver is executed prior to each relay. Since the two events are close together and the difference in required phasing between InSight and EDM may be up to half an orbit (yielding a large execution error), the downtrack timing error can increase rapidly at the EDM encounter. Thus, a new maneuver strategy that does not require a deterministic maneuver in-between the two events (with only a small statistical cleanup) is proposed in the paper. This proposed strategy rests heavily on the stability of the mean orbital period. The ability to search and set the specified mean period is fundamental in the proposed maneuver design as well as in understanding the scope of the problem. The proposed strategy is explained and its result is used to understand and solve the problem in the flight operations environment.

Mars Weather Map, Aug. 4, 2012

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-05

This global map of Mars was acquired on Aug. 4, 2012, by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to forecast weather conditions for the entry, descent and landing of NASA Curiosity rover.

Micro-Pressure Sensors for Future Mars Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Catling, David C.

1996-01-01

The joint research interchange effort was directed at the following principal areas: u further development of NASA-Ames' Mars Micro-meteorology mission concept as a viable NASA space mission especially with regard to the science and instrument specifications u interaction with the flight team from NASA's New Millennium 'Deep-Space 2' (DS-2) mission with regard to selection and design of micro-pressure sensors for Mars u further development of micro-pressure sensors suitable for Mars The research work undertaken in the course of the Joint Research Interchange should be placed in the context of an ongoing planetary exploration objective to characterize the climate system on Mars. In particular, a network of small probes globally-distributed on the surface of the planet has often been cited as the only way to address this particular science goal. A team from NASA Ames has proposed such a mission called the Micrometeorology mission, or 'Micro-met' for short. Surface pressure data are all that are required, in principle, to calculate the Martian atmospheric circulation, provided that simultaneous orbital measurements of the atmosphere are also obtained. Consequently, in the proposed Micro-met mission a large number of landers would measure barometric pressure at various locations around Mars, each equipped with a micro-pressure sensor. Much of the time on the JRI was therefore spent working with the engineers and scientists concerned with Micro-met to develop this particular mission concept into a more realistic proposition.

Mars Program Independent Assessment Team Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, Thomas; Arnold, James; Brackey, Thomas; Carr, Michael; Dwoyer, Douglas; Fogleman, Ronald; Jacobson, Ralph; Kottler, Herbert; Lyman, Peter; Maguire, Joanne

2000-01-01

The Mars Climate Orbiter failed to achieve Mars orbit on September 23, 1999. On December 3, 1999, Mars Polar Lander and two Deep Space 2 microprobes failed. As a result, the NASA Administrator established the Mars Program Independent Assessment Team (MPIAT) with the following charter: 1) Review and analyze successes and failures of recent Mars and Deep Space Missions which include: a) Mars Global Surveyor, b) Mars Climate Orbiter, c) Pathfinder, d) Mars Polar Lander, e) Deep Space 1, and f) Deep Space 2; 2) Examine the relationship between and among, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), NASA Headquarters, and industry partners; 3) Assess effectiveness of involvement of scientists; 4) Identify lessons learned from successes and failures; 5) Review revised Mars Surveyor Program to assure lessons learned are utilized; 6) Oversee Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 failure reviews; and 7) Complete by March 15, 2000. In-depth reviews were conducted at NASA Headquarters, JPL, and Lockheed Martin Astronautics (LMA). Structured reviews, informal sessions with numerous Mars Program participants, and extensive debate and discussion within the MPIAT establish the basis for this report. The review process began on January 7, 2000, and concluded with a briefing to the NASA Administrator on March 14, 2000. This report represents the integrated views of the members of the MPIAT who are identified in the appendix. In total, three related reports have been produced: a summary report, this report entitled "Mars Program Independent Assessment Team Report," and the "Report on the Loss of the Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 Missions".

Humans to Mars Summit 2014

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-22

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden delivers the opening keynote address at the Humans to Mars Summit on April 22, 2014 at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Administrator Bolden spoke of NASA's path to the human exploration of Mars during his remarks. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Mars Weather Map, 2008

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-04

This global map of Mars was acquired on Oct. 28, 2008, by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA MRO. One global map is generated each day to forecast weather conditions for the entry, descent and landing of NASA Curiosity rover.

Mars Tumbleweed: FY2003 Conceptual Design Assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antol, Jeffrey; Calhoun, Philip C.; Flick, John J.; Hajos, Gregory a.; Keys, Jennifer P.; Stillwagen, Frederic H.; Krizan, Shawn A.; Strickland, Christopher V.; Owens, Rachel; Wisniewski, Michael

2005-01-01

NASA LaRC is studying concepts for a new type of Mars exploration vehicle that would be propelled by the wind. Known as the Mars Tumbleweed, it would derive mobility through use of the Martian surface winds. Tumbleweeds could conceivably travel greater distances, cover larger areas of the surface, and provide access to areas inaccessible by conventional vehicles. They would be lightweight and relatively inexpensive, allowing a multiple vehicle network to be deployed on a single mission. Tumbleweeds would be equipped with sensors for conducting science and serve as scouts searching broad areas to identify specific locations for follow-on investigation by other explorers. An extensive assessment of LaRC Tumbleweed concepts was conducted in FY03, including refinement of science mission scenarios, definition of supporting subsystems (structures, power, communications), testing in wind tunnels, and development of a dynamic simulation capability.

NASA Lunar and Planetary Mapping and Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Day, B. H.; Law, E.

2016-12-01

NASA's Lunar and Planetary Mapping and Modeling Portals provide web-based suites of interactive visualization and analysis tools to enable mission planners, planetary scientists, students, and the general public to access mapped lunar data products from past and current missions for the Moon, Mars, and Vesta. New portals for additional planetary bodies are being planned. This presentation will recap significant enhancements to these toolsets during the past year and look forward to the results of the exciting work currently being undertaken. Additional data products and tools continue to be added to the Lunar Mapping and Modeling Portal (LMMP). These include both generalized products as well as polar data products specifically targeting potential sites for the Resource Prospector mission. Current development work on LMMP also includes facilitating mission planning and data management for lunar CubeSat missions, and working with the NASA Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office's Lunar Apollo Sample database in order to help better visualize the geographic contexts from which samples were retrieved. A new user interface provides, among other improvements, significantly enhanced 3D visualizations and navigation. Mars Trek, the project's Mars portal, has now been assigned by NASA's Planetary Science Division to support site selection and analysis for the Mars 2020 Rover mission as well as for the Mars Human Landing Exploration Zone Sites. This effort is concentrating on enhancing Mars Trek with data products and analysis tools specifically requested by the proposing teams for the various sites. Also being given very high priority by NASA Headquarters is Mars Trek's use as a means to directly involve the public in these upcoming missions, letting them explore the areas the agency is focusing upon, understand what makes these sites so fascinating, follow the selection process, and get caught up in the excitement of exploring Mars. The portals also serve as

Mars Sample Return: Mars Ascent Vehicle Mission and Technology Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowles, Jeffrey V.; Huynh, Loc C.; Hawke, Veronica M.; Jiang, Xun J.

2013-01-01

A Mars Sample Return mission is the highest priority science mission for the next decade recommended by the recent Decadal Survey of Planetary Science, the key community input process that guides NASAs science missions. A feasibility study was conducted of a potentially simple and low cost approach to Mars Sample Return mission enabled by the use of developing commercial capabilities. Previous studies of MSR have shown that landing an all up sample return mission with a high mass capacity lander is a cost effective approach. The approach proposed is the use of an emerging commercially available capsule to land the launch vehicle system that would return samples to Earth. This paper describes the mission and technology requirements impact on the launch vehicle system design, referred to as the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV).

Mars Sample Return: Mars Ascent Vehicle Mission and Technology Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowles, Jeffrey V.; Huynh, Loc C.; Hawke, Veronica M.

2013-01-01

A Mars Sample Return mission is the highest priority science mission for the next decade recommended by the recent Decadal Survey of Planetary Science, the key community input process that guides NASA's science missions. A feasibility study was conducted of a potentially simple and low cost approach to Mars Sample Return mission enabled by the use of new commercial capabilities. Previous studies of MSR have shown that landing an all up sample return mission with a high mass capacity lander is a cost effective approach. The approach proposed is the use of a SpaceX Dragon capsule to land the launch vehicle system that would return samples to Earth. This paper describes the mission and technology requirements impact on the launch vehicle system design, referred to as the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV).

Gale Crater is Low on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-02

Gale Crater on Mars, where NASA Curiosity rover is set to land, belongs to a family of large, very old craters shown here on this elevation map. The data come from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter instrument on NASA Mars Global Surveyor.

Mars Weather Map, Aug. 2, 2012

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-04

This global map of Mars was acquired on Aug. 2, 2012, by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. One global map is generated each day to forecast weather conditions for the entry, descent and landing of NASA Curiosity.

Design Study for a Mars Geyser Hopper

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Landis, Geoffrey A.; Oleson, Steven J.; McGuire, Melissa

2012-01-01

The Mars Geyser Hopper is a design reference missions (DRMs) for a Discovery-class spacecraft using Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) power source. The Geyser Hopper is a mission concept that will investigate the springtime carbon-dioxide geysers found in regions around the south pole of Mars. The Geyser Hopper design uses Phoenix heritage systems and approach, but uses a single ASRG as the power source, rather than twin solar arrays, and is designed to last over a one-year stay on the South Pole. The spacecraft will land at a target landing area near the south pole of Mars, and have the ability to "hop" after a summertime landing to reposition itself close to a geyser site, and wait through the winter until the first sunlight of spring to witness first-hand the geyser phenomenon.

Independent Verification of Mars-GRAM 2010 with Mars Climate Sounder Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Justh, Hilary L.; Burns, Kerry L.

2014-01-01

The Mars Global Reference Atmospheric Model (Mars-GRAM) is an engineering-level atmospheric model widely used for diverse mission and engineering applications. Applications of Mars-GRAM include systems design, performance analysis, and operations planning for aerobraking, entry, descent and landing, and aerocapture. Atmospheric influences on landing site selection and long-term mission conceptualization and development can also be addressed utilizing Mars-GRAM. Mars-GRAM's perturbation modeling capability is commonly used, in a Monte Carlo mode, to perform high-fidelity engineering end-to-end simulations for entry, descent, and landing. Mars-GRAM is an evolving software package resulting in improved accuracy and additional features. Mars-GRAM 2005 has been validated against Radio Science data, and both nadir and limb data from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). From the surface to 80 km altitude, Mars-GRAM is based on the NASA Ames Mars General Circulation Model (MGCM). Above 80 km, Mars-GRAM is based on the University of Michigan Mars Thermospheric General Circulation Model (MTGCM). The most recent release of Mars-GRAM 2010 includes an update to Fortran 90/95 and the addition of adjustment factors. These adjustment factors are applied to the input data from the MGCM and the MTGCM for the mapping year 0 user-controlled dust case. The adjustment factors are expressed as a function of height (z), latitude and areocentric solar longitude (Ls).

Instrumentation and Methodology Development for Mars Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Yuan-Liang Albert

2002-01-01

The Mars environment comprises a dry, cold and low air pressure atmosphere with low gravity (0.38g) and high resistivity soil. The global dust storms that cover a large portion of Mars were observed often from Earth. This environment provides an idea condition for triboelectric charging. The extremely dry conditions on the Martian surface have raised concerns that electrostatic charge buildup will not be dissipated easily. If triboelectrically generated charge cannot be dissipated or avoided, then dust will accumulate on charged surfaces and electrostatic discharge may cause hazards for future exploration missions. The low surface temperature on Mars helps to prolong the charge decay on the dust particles and soil. To better understand the physics of Martian charged dust particles is essential to future Mars missions. We research and design two sensors, velocity/charge sensor and PZT momentum sensors, to detect the velocity distribution, charge distribution and mass distribution of Martian charged dust particles. These sensors are fabricated at NASA Kenney Space Center, Electromagnetic Physics Testbed. The sensors will be tested and calibrated for simulated Mars atmosphere condition with JSC MARS-1 Martian Regolith simulant in this NASA laboratory.

Using NASA's Space Launch System to Enable Game Changing Science Mission Designs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Creech, Stephen D.

2013-01-01

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is directing efforts to build the Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will help restore U.S. leadership in space by carrying the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and other important payloads far beyond Earth orbit. Its evolvable architecture will allow NASA to begin with Moon fly-bys and then go on to transport humans or robots to distant places such as asteroids, Mars, and the outer solar system. Designed to simplify spacecraft complexity, the SLS rocket will provide improved mass margins and radiation mitigation, and reduced mission durations. These capabilities offer attractive advantages for ambitious missions such as a Mars sample return, by reducing infrastructure requirements, cost, and schedule. For example, if an evolved expendable launch vehicle (EELV) were used for a proposed mission to investigate the Saturn system, a complicated trajectory would be required with several gravity-assist planetary fly-bys to achieve the necessary outbound velocity. The SLS rocket, using significantly higher C3 energies, can more quickly and effectively take the mission directly to its destination, reducing trip times and cost. As this paper will report, the SLS rocket will launch payloads of unprecedented mass and volume, such as monolithic telescopes and in-space infrastructure. Thanks to its ability to co-manifest large payloads, it also can accomplish complex missions in fewer launches. Future analyses will include reviews of alternate mission concepts and detailed evaluations of SLS figures of merit, helping the new rocket revolutionize science mission planning and design for years to come.

Mars Science Laboratory's Descent Stage

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

This portion of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, called the descent stage, does its main work during the final few minutes before touchdown on Mars.

The descent stage will provide rocket-powered deceleration for a phase of the arrival at Mars after the phases using the heat shield and parachute. When it nears the surface, the descent stage will lower the rover on a bridle the rest of the way to the ground.

The Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft is being assembled and tested for launch in 2011.

This image was taken at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., which manages the Mars Science Laboratory Mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

Mars Exploration Rover, Vertical Artist Concept

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-12-15

An artist's concept portrays a NASA Mars Exploration Rover on the surface of Mars. Two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, will reach Mars in January 2004. Each has the mobility and toolkit to function as a robotic geologist. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04928

Six Landing Sites on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

The landing site chosen for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, at about 68 degrees north latitude, is much farther north than the sites where previous spacecraft have landed on Mars.

Color coding on this map indicates relative elevations based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Red is higher elevation; blue is lower elevation. In longitude, the map extends from 70 degrees (north) to minus 70 degrees (south).

Mars Rock Analysis Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-03-12

Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator for Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) investigation at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, answer's a reporters question at a news conference, Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The news conference covered the findings that the analysis of the rock sample collected shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Humans to Mars Summit 2014

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-22

Michael Gazarik, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Technology gives a short presentation on NASA's human exploration path to Mars during a panel discussion moderated by PBS NewsHour's Miles O'Brien at the Humans to Mars Summit on April 22, 2014 at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Humans to Mars Summit 2014

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-22

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden answers questions from the audience after giving the opening keynote address at the Humans to Mars Summit on April 22, 2014 at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Administrator Bolden spoke of NASA's path to the human exploration of Mars during his remarks. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Known Locations of Carbonate Rocks on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

Green dots show the locations of orbital detections of carbonate-bearing rocks on Mars, determined by analysis of targeted observations by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) acquired through January 2008. The spectrometer is on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The base map is color-coded global topography (red is high, blue is low) overlain on mosaicked daytime thermal infrared images. The topography data are from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The thermal infrared imagery is from the Thermal Emission Imaging System camera on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.

The CRISM team, led by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., includes expertise from universities, government agencies and small businesses in the United States and abroad. Arizona State University, Tempe, operates the Thermal Emission Imaging System, which the university developed in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey projects for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the orbiters.

Refining the Ares V Design to Carry Out NASA's Exploration Initiative

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Creech, Steve

2008-01-01

NASA's Ares V cargo launch vehicle is part of an overall architecture for u.S. space exploration that will span decades. The Ares V, together with the Ares I crew launch vehicle, Orion crew exploration vehicle and Altair lunar lander, will carry out the national policy goals of retiring the Space Shuttle, completing the International Space Station program, and expanding exploration of the Moon as a steps toward eventual human exploration of Mars. The Ares fleet (Figure 1) is the product of the Exploration Systems Architecture study which, in the wake of the Columbia accident, recommended separating crew from cargo transportation. Both vehicles are undergoing rigorous systems design to maximize safety, reliability, and operability. They take advantage of the best technical and operational lessons learned from the Apollo, Space Shuttle and more recent programs. NASA also seeks to maximize commonality between the crew and cargo vehicles in an effort to simplify and reduce operational costs for sustainable, long-term exploration.

Investments by NASA to build planetary protection capability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buxbaum, Karen; Conley, Catharine; Lin, Ying; Hayati, Samad

NASA continues to invest in capabilities that will enable or enhance planetary protection planning and implementation for future missions. These investments are critical to the Mars Exploration Program and will be increasingly important as missions are planned for exploration of the outer planets and their icy moons. Since the last COSPAR Congress, there has been an opportunity to respond to the advice of NRC-PREVCOM and the analysis of the MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group. This stimulated research into such things as expanded bioburden reduction options, modern molecular assays and genetic inventory capability, and approaches to understand or avoid recontamination of spacecraft parts and samples. Within NASA, a portfolio of PP research efforts has been supported through the NASA Office of Planetary Protection, the Mars Technology Program, and the Mars Program Office. The investment strategy focuses on technology investments designed to enable future missions and reduce their costs. In this presentation we will provide an update on research and development supported by NASA to enhance planetary protection capability. Copyright 2008 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged.

Mars Pathfinder Microrover- Implementing a Low Cost Planetary Mission Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matijevic, J.

1996-01-01

The Mars Pathfinder Microrover Flight Experiment (MFEX) is a NASA Office of Space Access and Technology (OSAT) flight experiment which has been delivered and integrated with the Mars Pathfinder (MPF) lander and spacecraft system. The total cost of the MFEX mission, including all subsystem design and development, test, integration with the MPF lander and operations on Mars has been capped at $25 M??is paper discusses the process and the implementation scheme which has resulted in the development of this first Mars rover.

NASA Lunar and Planetary Mapping and Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Day, Brian; Law, Emily

2016-10-01

NASA's Lunar and Planetary Mapping and Modeling Portals provide web-based suites of interactive visualization and analysis tools to enable mission planners, planetary scientists, students, and the general public to access mapped lunar data products from past and current missions for the Moon, Mars, and Vesta. New portals for additional planetary bodies are being planned. This presentation will recap some of the enhancements to these products during the past year and preview work currently being undertaken.New data products added to the Lunar Mapping and Modeling Portal (LMMP) include both generalized products as well as polar data products specifically targeting potential sites for the Resource Prospector mission. New tools being developed include traverse planning and surface potential analysis. Current development work on LMMP also includes facilitating mission planning and data management for lunar CubeSat missions. Looking ahead, LMMP is working with the NASA Astromaterials Office to integrate with their Lunar Apollo Sample database to help better visualize the geographic contexts of retrieved samples. All of this will be done within the framework of a new user interface which, among other improvements, will provide significantly enhanced 3D visualizations and navigation.Mars Trek, the project's Mars portal, has now been assigned by NASA's Planetary Science Division to support site selection and analysis for the Mars 2020 Rover mission as well as for the Mars Human Landing Exploration Zone Sites, and is being enhanced with data products and analysis tools specifically requested by the proposing teams for the various sites. NASA Headquarters is giving high priority to Mars Trek's use as a means to directly involve the public in these upcoming missions, letting them explore the areas the agency is focusing upon, understand what makes these sites so fascinating, follow the selection process, and get caught up in the excitement of exploring Mars.The portals also

Mars habitat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The College of Engineering & Architecture at Prairie View A&M University has been participating in the NASA/USRA Advanced Design Program since 1986. The interdisciplinary nature of the program allowed the involvement of students and faculty throughout the College of Engineering & Architecture for the last five years. The research goal for the 1990-1991 year is to design a human habitat on Mars that can be used as a permanent base for 20 crew members. The research is being conducted by undergraduate students from the Department of Architecture.

First Image from MarCO-B

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-15

The first image captured by one of NASA's Mars Cube One (MarCO) CubeSats. The image, which shows both the CubeSat's unfolded high-gain antenna at right and the Earth and its moon in the center, was acquired by MarCO-B on May 9. MarCO is a pair of small spacecraft accompanying NASA's InSight (Interior Investigations Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander. Together, MarCO-A and MarCO-B are the first CubeSats ever sent to deep space. InSight is the first mission to ever explore Mars' deep interior. If the MarCO CubeSats make the entire journey to Mars, they will attempt to relay data about InSight back to Earth as the lander enters the Martian atmosphere and lands. MarCO will not collect any science, but are intended purely as a technology demonstration. They could serve as a pathfinder for future CubeSat missions. An annotated version is available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22323

Looking Up at Mars Rover Curiosity in Buckskin Selfie

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-19

the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19808

Mars Ice Age, Simulated

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

December 17, 2003

This simulated view shows Mars as it might have appeared during the height of a possible ice age in geologically recent time.

Of all Solar System planets, Mars has the climate most like that of Earth. Both are sensitive to small changes in orbit and tilt. During a period about 2.1 million to 400,000 years ago, increased tilt of Mars' rotational axis caused increased solar heating at the poles. A new study using observations from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey orbiters concludes that this polar warming caused mobilization of water vapor and dust into the atmosphere, and buildup of a surface deposit of ice and dust down to about 30 degrees latitude in both hemispheres. That is the equivalent of the southern Unites States or Saudi Arabia on Earth. Mars has been in an interglacial period characterized by less axial tilt for about the last 300,000 years. The ice-rich surface deposit has been degrading in the latitude zone of 30 degrees to 60 degrees as water-ice returns to the poles.

In this illustration prepared for the December 18, 2003, cover of the journal Nature, the simulated surface deposit is superposed on a topography map based on altitude measurements by Global Surveyor and images from NASA's Viking orbiters of the 1970s.

Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey are managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington.

Mars Helicopter (Artist's Concept)

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-25

This artist concept shows the Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, which will travel with NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22460

Design of a fast crew transfer vehicle to Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

A final report is made on the trajectory and vehicle requirements for a fast crew transfer vehicle to Mars which will complete an Earth to Mars (and Mars to Earth) transfer in 150 days and will have a stay time at Mars of 40 days. This vehicle will maximize the crew's effectiveness on Mars by minimizing detrimental physiological effects such as bone demineralization and loss of muscle tone caused by long period exposure to zero gravity and radiation from cosmic rays and solar flares. The crew transfer vehicle discussed will complete the second half of a Split Mission to Mars. In the Split Mission, a slow, unmanned cargo vehicle, nicknamed the Barge, is sent to Mars ahead of the crew vehicle. Once the Barge is in orbit around Mars, the fast crew vehicle will be launched to rendezvous with the Barge in Mars orbit. The vehicle presented is designed to carry six astronauts for a mission duration of one year. The vehicle uses a chemical propulsion system and a nuclear power system. Four crew modules, similar to the proposed Space Station Common Modules, are used to house the crew and support equipment during the mission. The final design also includes a command module that is shielded to protect the crew during radiation events.

Mars Weather Map, Aug. 5

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-10

This global map of Mars was acquired on Aug. 5, 2012, by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA MRO. One global map is generated each day to forecast weather conditions for the entry, descent and landing of NASA Curiosity rover.

Test Rover at JPL During Preparation for Mars Rover Low-Angle Selfie

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-19

This view of a test rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, results from advance testing of arm positions and camera pointings for taking a low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. This rehearsal in California led to a dramatic Aug. 5, 2015, selfie of Curiosity, online at PIA19807. Curiosity's arm-mounted Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera took 92 of component images that were assembled into that mosaic. The rover team positioned the camera lower in relation to the rover body than for any previous full self-portrait of Curiosity. This practice version was taken at JPL's Mars Yard in July 2013, using the Vehicle System Test Bed (VSTB) rover, which has a test copy of MAHLI on its robotic arm. MAHLI was built by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19810

Mars Earth Return Vehicle (MERV) Propulsion Options

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oleson, Steven R.; McGuire, Melissa L.; Burke, Laura; Fincannon, James; Warner, Joe; Williams, Glenn; Parkey, Thomas; Colozza, Tony; Fittje, Jim; Martini, Mike;

NASA’s Mars Lander Launches

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-05

NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) was launched May 5 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Central California. NASA also flew a technology demonstration called Mars Cube One (MarCO) on the Atlas V to separately go to Mars. NASA has a long and successful track record at Mars. InSight will drill into the Red Planet to study the crust, mantle and core of Mars. It will help scientists understand the formation and early evolution of all rocky planets, including Earth.

Humans to Mars Summit 2014

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-04-22

Miles O'Brien, science correspondant for PBS NewsHour, left, leads a panel discussion on Mars exploration with William Gerstenmaier, NASA Associatate Administrator for Human Explorations and Operations, center, and Michael Gazarik, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Technology, left, at the Humans to Mars Summit on April 22, 2014 at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA and the search for life in the universe.

PubMed

Dick, Steven J

2006-06-01

Almost from its beginnings in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) set up a life-science program. Because one of the priorities of the organization is to search for life beyond Earth, NASA began designing spacecraft to unravel the mysteries of Mars. The effort to search for life on Mars culminated in the landing of two Viking spacecraft on the surface of the planet in 1976. Although the biology experiments conducted as part of these missions provided some evidence for the possibility of life, the scientific consensus was that they drew a blank. In 1996, however, the 'Mars rock' rekindled interest in life in our solar system. The discovery of an ocean on the Jovian moon Europa, of organic molecules on the Saturnian moon Titan and persuasive evidence that water once flowed on Mars suggests that the solar system is still of considerable exobiological interest. In addition, since 1995 approximately 175 planets have been found beyond our solar system. Although these discoveries are gas giants, NASA spacecraft might soon detect Earth-sized planets. The search for life in the universe continues.

Thermal Performance of the Mars Science Laboratory Rover During Mars Surface Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Novak, Keith S.; Kempenaar, Joshua E.; Liu, Yuanming; Bhandari, Pradeep; Lee, Chern-Jiin

2013-01-01

On November 26, 2011, NASA launched a large (900 kg) rover as part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission to Mars. Eight months later, on August 5, 2012, the MSL rover (Curiosity) successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. As of the writing of this paper, the rover had completed over 200 Sols of Mars surface operations in the Gale Crater landing site (4.5 deg S latitude). This paper describes the thermal performance of the MSL Rover during the early part of its two Earth-0.year (670 Sols) prime surface mission. Curiosity landed in Gale Crater during early Spring (Ls=151) in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars. This paper discusses the thermal performance of the rover from landing day (Sol 0) through Summer Solstice (Sol 197) and out to Sol 204. The rover surface thermal design performance was very close to pre-landing predictions. The very successful thermal design allowed a high level of operational power dissipation immediately after landing without overheating and required a minimal amount of survival heating. Early morning operations of cameras and actuators were aided by successful heating activities. MSL rover surface operations thermal experiences are discussed in this paper. Conclusions about the rover surface operations thermal performance are also presented.

Thermal Performance of the Mars Science Laboratory Rover During Mars Surface Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Novak, Keith S.; Kempenaar, Joshua E.; Liu, Yuanming; Bhandari, Pradeep; Lee, Chern-Jiin

2013-01-01

On November 26, 2011, NASA launched a large (900 kg) rover as part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission to Mars. Eight months later, on August 5, 2012, the MSL rover (Curiosity) successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. As of the writing of this paper, the rover had completed over 200 Sols of Mars surface operations in the Gale Crater landing site (4.5 degrees South latitude). This paper describes the thermal performance of the MSL Rover during the early part of its two Earth-0.year (670 Sols) prime surface mission. Curiosity landed in Gale Crater during early Spring (Solar longitude=151) in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars. This paper discusses the thermal performance of the rover from landing day (Sol 0) through Summer Solstice (Sol 197) and out to Sol 204. The rover surface thermal design performance was very close to pre-landing predictions. The very successful thermal design allowed a high level of operational power dissipation immediately after landing without overheating and required a minimal amount of survival heating. Early morning operations of cameras and actuators were aided by successful heating activities. MSL rover surface operations thermal experiences are discussed in this paper. Conclusions about the rover surface operations thermal performance are also presented.

Intrepid Crater on Mars Stereo

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-11-18

Intrepid crater on Mars carries the name of the lunar module of NASA Apollo 12 mission, which landed on Earth moon Nov. 19, 1969. NASA Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity recorded this stereo view on Nov. 11, 2010. 3D glasses are necessary.

Operationalizing the 21st Century Learning Skills Framework for the NASA Mission to Mars Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Burgess; Research, MSI; Evaluation Team; Interactive Videoconferences Teamlt/p>, MSI

2013-06-01

Internal evaluators working with the NASA Mission to Mars program, an out-of-school collaborative videoconferencing program at the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago (MSI), developed an observation protocol to collect evidence about the collaborative learning opportunities offered by the program’s unique technology. Details about the protocol’s development are discussed, along with results of the pilot observations of the program.

Mars Topography

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-01-17

These maps are global false-color topographic views of Mars at different orientations from NASA Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter MOLA. The maps are orthographic projections that contain over 200,000,000 points and about 5,000,000 altimetric crossovers.

Mars Up Close

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-08-05

Ken Edgett, principal investigator, MAHLI Camera, Mars Exploration Program, discusses what we’ve learned from Curiosity and the other Mars rovers during a “Mars Up Close” panel discussion, Tuesday, August 5, 2014, at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

MEDA, The New Instrument for Mars Environment Analysis for the Mars 2020 Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moreno-Alvarez, Jose F.; Pena-Godino, Antonio; Rodriguez-Manfredi, Jose Antonio; Cordoba, Elizabeth; MEDA Team

2016-08-01

The Mars 2020 rover mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet. Designed to advance high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, the mission will address key questions about the potential for life on Mars. The mission will also provide opportunities to gather knowledge and demonstrate technologies that address the challenges of future human expeditions to Mars.The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) is an integrated full suite of sensors designed to address the Mars 2020 mission objectives of characterization of dust size and morphology and surface weather measurements.MEDA system consists of one control unit and 10 separated sensor enclosures distributed in different positions along the Mars 2020 rover. MEDA is composed of an ARM-based control computer with its flight software application, two wind sensors including mixed ASICs inside, five air temperature sensors, one sky pointing camera complemented with 16 photo- detectors looking up and around, one thermal infrared sensor using five measurement bands, one relative humidity sensor, one pressure sensor and the harness that interconnects all of them. It is a complex system intended to operate in one of the harshest environments possible, the Mars surface, for many years to come.This will become a short term reality thanks to the combination of a strong international science team driving the science and system requirements working together with a powerful industrial organization to design and build the instrument. The instrument is being built right now, with its Critical Design Review at the end of 2016, and the flight model to be provided in 2018.This paper summarizes the main scientific objective of the MEDA instrument, the links between the Mission and the MEDA science objectives, and the challenging environmental Mars requirements. It will then focus on the engineered definition of the instrument, showing the overall

Moon-Mars Analogue Mission (EuroMoonMars 1 at the Mars Desert Research Station)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lia Schlacht, Irene; Voute, Sara; Irwin, Stacy; Foing, Bernard H.; Stoker, Carol R.; Westenberg, Artemis

The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is situated in an analogue habitat-based Martian environment, designed for missions to determine the knowledge and equipment necessary for successful future planetary exploration. For this purpose, a crew of six people worked and lived together in a closed-system environment. They performed habitability experiments within the dwelling and conducted Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVAs) for two weeks (20 Feb to 6 Mar 2010) and were guided externally by mission support, called "Earth" within the simulation. Crew 91, an international, mixed-gender, and multidisciplinary group, has completed several studies during the first mission of the EuroMoonMars campaign. The crew is composed of an Italian designer and human factors specialist, a Dutch geologist, an American physicist, and three French aerospace engineering students from Ecole de l'Air, all with ages between 21 and 31. Each crewmember worked on personal research and fulfilled a unique role within the group: commander, executive officer, engineer, health and safety officer, scientist, and journalist. The expedition focused on human factors, performance, communication, health and safety pro-tocols, and EVA procedures. The engineers' projects aimed to improve rover manoeuvrability, far-field communication, and data exchanges between the base and the rover or astronaut. The crew physicist evaluated dust control methods inside and outside the habitat. The geologist tested planetary geological sampling procedures. The crew designer investigated performance and overall habitability in the context of the Mars Habitability Experiment from the Extreme-Design group. During the mission the crew also participated in the Food Study and in the Ethospace study, managed by external groups. The poster will present crew dynamics, scientific results and daily schedule from a Human Factors perspective. Main co-sponsors and collaborators: ILEWG, ESA ESTEC, NASA Ames, Ecole de l'Air, SKOR, Extreme-Design

NASA's Planetary Science Missions and Participations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daou, Doris; Green, James L.

2017-04-01

NASA's Planetary Science Division (PSD) and space agencies around the world are collaborating on an extensive array of missions exploring our solar system. Planetary science missions are conducted by some of the most sophisticated robots ever built. International collaboration is an essential part of what we do. NASA has always encouraged international participation on our missions both strategic (ie: Mars 2020) and competitive (ie: Discovery and New Frontiers) and other Space Agencies have reciprocated and invited NASA investigators to participate in their missions. NASA PSD has partnerships with virtually every major space agency. For example, NASA has had a long and very fruitful collaboration with ESA. ESA has been involved in the Cassini mission and, currently, NASA funded scientists are involved in the Rosetta mission (3 full instruments, part of another), BepiColombo mission (1 instrument in the Italian Space Agency's instrument suite), and the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer mission (1 instrument and parts of two others). In concert with ESA's Mars missions NASA has an instrument on the Mars Express mission, the orbit-ground communications package on the Trace Gas Orbiter (launched in March 2016) and part of the DLR/Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer instruments going onboard the ExoMars Rover (to be launched in 2018). NASA's Planetary Science Division has continuously provided its U.S. planetary science community with opportunities to include international participation on NASA missions too. For example, NASA's Discovery and New Frontiers Programs provide U.S. scientists the opportunity to assemble international teams and design exciting, focused planetary science investigations that would deepen the knowledge of our Solar System. The PSD put out an international call for instruments on the Mars 2020 mission. This procurement led to the selection of Spain and Norway scientist leading two instruments and French scientists providing a significant portion of another

The Potential Impact of Mars' Atmospheric Dust on Future Human Exploration of the Red Planet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winterhalter, D.; Levine, J. S.; Kerschmann, R.; Beaty, D. W.; Carrier, B. L.; Ashley, J. W.

2017-12-01

With the increasing focus by NASA and other space agencies on a crewed mission to Mars in the 2039 time-frame, many Mars-specific environmental factors are now starting to be considered by NASA and other engineering teams. Learning from NASA's Apollo Missions to the Moon, where lunar dust turned out to be a significant challenge to mission and crew safety, attention is now turning to the dust in Mars' atmosphere and regolith. To start the process of identifying possible dust-caused challenges to the human presence on Mars, and thus aid early engineering and mission design efforts, the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Robotic Spacecraft Technical Discipline Team organized and conducted a Workshop on the "Dust in Mars' Atmosphere and Its Impact on the Human Exploration of Mars", held at the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), Houston, TX, June 13-15, 2017. The workshop addressed the following general areas: 1. What is known about Mars' dust in terms of its physical and chemical properties, its local and global abundance and composition, and its variability.2. What is the impact of Mars atmospheric dust on human health.3. What is the impact of Mars atmospheric dust on surface mechanical systems (e.g., spacesuits, habitats, mobility systems, etc.). We present the top priority issues identified in the workshop.

Grid resolution and solution convergence for Mars Pathfinder forebody

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nettelhorst, Heather L.; Mitcheltree, Robert A.

1994-01-01

As part of the Discovery Program, NASA Plans to launch a series of probes to Mars. The Mars Pathfinder project is the first of this series with a scheduled Mars arrival in July 1997. The entry vehicle will perform a direct entry into the atmosphere and deliver a lander to the surface. Predicting the entry vehicle's flight performance and designing the forebody heatshield requires knowledge of the expected aerothermodynamic environment. Much of this knowledge can be obtained through computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis.

How Mars is losing its atmosphere on This Week @NASA – November 6, 2015

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-11-06

New findings by NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission indicate that solar wind is currently stripping away the equivalent of about 1/4 pound of gas every second from the Martian atmosphere. MAVEN tracked a series of dramatic solar storms passing through the Martian atmosphere in March and found the loss was accelerated. This could suggest that violent solar activity in the distant past may have played a key role in the transition of the Martian climate from an early, warm and wet environment that might have supported surface life, to the cold, arid planet Mars is today. Also, 15 Years on space station, and counting!, Spacewalk for space station maintenance, NASA seeking future astronauts, Commercial Crew access tower progress and First SLS flight engine placed for testing!

Review of NASA approach to space radiation risk assessments for Mars exploration.

PubMed

Cucinotta, Francis A

2015-02-01

Long duration space missions present unique radiation protection challenges due to the complexity of the space radiation environment, which includes high charge and energy particles and other highly ionizing radiation such as neutrons. Based on a recommendation by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, a 3% lifetime risk of exposure-induced death for cancer has been used as a basis for risk limitation by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for low-Earth orbit missions. NASA has developed a risk-based approach to radiation exposure limits that accounts for individual factors (age, gender, and smoking history) and assesses the uncertainties in risk estimates. New radiation quality factors with associated probability distribution functions to represent the quality factor's uncertainty have been developed based on track structure models and recent radiobiology data for high charge and energy particles. The current radiation dose limits are reviewed for spaceflight and the various qualitative and quantitative uncertainties that impact the risk of exposure-induced death estimates using the NASA Space Cancer Risk (NSCR) model. NSCR estimates of the number of "safe days" in deep space to be within exposure limits and risk estimates for a Mars exploration mission are described.

Parachute Testing for Mars Science Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2007-01-01

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.

The Exploration of Mars Launch and Assembly Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cates, Grant; Stromgren, Chel; Mattfeld, Bryan; Cirillo, William; Goodliff, Kandyce

2016-01-01

Advancing human exploration of space beyond Low Earth Orbit, and ultimately to Mars, is of great interest to NASA, other organizations, and space exploration advocates. Various strategies for getting to Mars have been proposed. These include NASA's Design Reference Architecture 5.0, a near-term flyby of Mars advocated by the group Inspiration Mars, and potential options developed for NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign. Regardless of which approach is used to get to Mars, they all share a need to visualize and analyze their proposed campaign and evaluate the feasibility of the launch and on-orbit assembly segment of the campaign. The launch and assembly segment starts with flight hardware manufacturing and ends with final departure of a Mars Transfer Vehicle (MTV), or set of MTVs, from an assembly orbit near Earth. This paper describes a discrete event simulation based strategic visualization and analysis tool that can be used to evaluate the launch campaign reliability of any proposed strategy for exploration beyond low Earth orbit. The input to the simulation can be any manifest of multiple launches and their associated transit operations between Earth and the exploration destinations, including Earth orbit, lunar orbit, asteroids, moons of Mars, and ultimately Mars. The simulation output includes expected launch dates and ascent outcomes i.e., success or failure. Running 1,000 replications of the simulation provides the capability to perform launch campaign reliability analysis to determine the probability that all launches occur in a timely manner to support departure opportunities and to deliver their payloads to the intended orbit. This allows for quantitative comparisons between alternative scenarios, as well as the capability to analyze options for improving launch campaign reliability. Results are presented for representative strategies.

Mars Up Close

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-08-05

John Grant, geologist and long-term planner, Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory, discusses what we’ve learned from Curiosity and the other Mars rovers during a “Mars Up Close” panel discussion, Tuesday, August 5, 2014, at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Water Flowing on Mars Today on This Week @NASA – October 2, 2015

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-10-02

A major scientific discovery was announced by NASA at a Sept. 28 news conference. From its vantage point high above the Martian surface, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft has found the strongest evidence yet, that under certain circumstances, liquid water has been found on Mars. Researchers say an imaging spectrometer on MRO detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where downhill streaks, known as Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) are seen. In the past, RSL flows have been described as possibly related to liquid water. But the new findings of hydrated minerals is key evidence. Hydrated salts can lower the freezing point of liquid brine – and produce liquid water. Also, Life beyond Earth in the next decade?, “The Martian” screening event, Cargo ship departs space station, New cargo ship delivers to space station, Rare double celestial treat and Espacio a Tierra!

The 2009 Mars Telecommunications Orbiter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilson, G. R.; DePaula, R.; Diehl, R. E.; Edwards, C. D.; Fitzgerald, R. J.; Franklin, S. F.; Kerridge, S. A.; Komarek, T. A.; Noreen, G. K.

2004-01-01

The first spacecraft with a primary function of providing communication links while orbiting a foreign planet has begun development for a launch in 2009. NASA's Mars Telecommunications Orbiter would use three radio bands to magnify the benefits of other future Mars missions and enable some types of missions otherwise impractical. It would serve as the Mars hub for a growing interplanetary Internet. And it would pioneer the use of planet-to-planet laser communications to demonstrate the possibility for even greater networking capabilities in the future. With Mars Telecommunications Orbiter overhead in the martian sky, the Mars Science Laboratory rover scheduled to follow the orbiter to Mars by about a month could send to Earth more than 100 times as much data per day as it could otherwise send. The orbiter will be designed for the capability of relaying up to 15 gigabits per day from the rover, equivalent to more than three full compact discs each day. The same benefits would accrue to other future major Mars missions from any nation.

Mars Science Laboratory Cruise Propulsion Maneuvering Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, Raymond S.; Mizukami, Masahi; Barber, Todd J.

2013-01-01

Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" is NASA's most recent mission to Mars, launched in November 2011, and landed in August 2012. It is a subcompact car-sized nuclear powered rover designed for a long duration mission, with an extensive suite of science instruments. Entry, descent and landing used a unique "skycrane" concept. This report describes the propulsive maneuvering operations during cruise from Earth to Mars, to control attitudes and to target the vehicle for entry. The propulsion subsystem, mission operations, and flight performance are discussed. All trajectory control maneuvers were well within accuracy requirements, and all turns and spin corrections were nominal.

Cryogenic propellant thermal control system design considerations, analyses, and concepts applied to a Mars human exploration mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plachta, David W.; Tucker, Stephen; Hoffman, David J.

1993-01-01

This paper analyzes, defines, and sizes cryogenic storage thermal control systems that meet the requirements of future NASA Mars human exploration missions. The design issues of this system include the projection of the existing Multilayer Insulation data base for cryogenic storage to much thicker (10 cm or more) insulation systems, the unknown heat leak from mechanical interfaces, and the thermal and structural performance effects of the large tank sizes required for a Mars mission. Acknowledging these unknown effects, heat loss projections are made based on extrapolation of the existing data base. The results indicate that hydrogen, methane, and oxygen are feasible propellants, and that the best suited thermal control sytems are 'thick' MLI, thermodynamic vent sytems, cryocoolers, and vacuum jackets.

Mars Orbiter Study. Volume 2: Mission Design, Science Instrument Accommodation, Spacecraft Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drean, R.; Macpherson, D.; Steffy, D.; Vargas, T.; Shuman, B.; Anderson, K.; Richards, B.

1982-01-01

Spacecraft system and subsystem designs were developed at the conceptual level to perform either of two Mars Orbiter Missions, a Climatology Mission and an Aeronomy Mission. The objectives of these missions are to obtain and return data to increase knowledge of Mars.

Mars Up Close

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-08-05

Guest attending the National Geographic “Mars Up Close” panel discussion, look at full scale models of the Spirit/Opportunity, left, and Curiosity, Mars rovers, Tuesday, August 5, 2014, at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington. Guest listened to a panel of distinguished space scientists and Mars experts involved in current Mars exploration that shared what we’ve learned from Curiosity and the other Mars rovers. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Locations of Ice-Exposing Fresh Craters on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-12-10

This map of Mars indicates locations of new craters that have excavated ice blue and those that have not red. Albedo information comes from NASA Mars Odyssey orbiter, and the map comes from NASA Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

The NASA Exploration Design Team; Blueprint for a New Design Paradigm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oberto, Robert E.; Nilsen, Erik; Cohen, Ron; Wheeler, Rebecca; DeFlorio, Paul

2005-01-01

NASA has chosen JPL to deliver a NASA-wide rapid-response real-time collaborative design team to perform rapid execution of program, system, mission, and technology trade studies. This team will draw on the expertise of all NASA centers and external partners necessary. The NASA Exploration Design Team (NEDT) will be led by NASA Headquarters, with field centers and partners added according to the needs of each study. Through real-time distributed collaboration we will effectively bring all NASA field centers directly inside Headquarters. JPL's Team X pioneered the technique of real time collaborative design 8 years ago. Since its inception, Team X has performed over 600 mission studies and has reduced per-study cost by a factor of 5 and per-study duration by a factor of 10 compared to conventional design processes. The Team X concept has spread to other NASA centers, industry, academia, and international partners. In this paper, we discuss the extension of the JPL Team X process to the NASA-wide collaborative design team. We discuss the architecture for such a process and elaborate on the implementation challenges of this process. We further discuss our current ideas on how to address these challenges.

Mars Up Close

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-08-05

Dr. Jim Green, NASA‘s Planetary Science Division Director and Head of Mars Program, discusses what we’ve learned from Curiosity and the other Mars rovers during a “Mars Up Close” panel discussion, Tuesday, August 5, 2014, at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Interplanetary CubeSat for Technology Demonstration at Mars Artist Concept

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-06-12

NASA's two MarCO CubeSats will be flying past Mars in September 2016 just as NASA's next Mars lander, InSight, is descending through the Martian atmosphere and landing on the surface. MarCO, for Mars Cube One, will provide an experimental communications relay to inform Earth quickly about the landing. This illustration depicts a moment during the lander's descent when it is transmitting data in the UHF radio band, and the twin MarCO craft are receiving those transmissions while simultaneously relaying the data to Earth in a different radio band. Each of the MarCO twins carries two solar panels for power, and both UHF-band and X-band radio antennas. As a technology demonstration, MarCO could lead to other "bring-your-own-relay" mission designs and also to use of miniature spacecraft for a wide diversity of interplanetary missions. MarCO is the first interplanetary use of CubeSat technologies for small spacecraft. CubeSats are a class of spacecraft based on a standardized small size and modular use of off-the-shelf technologies to streamline development. Many have been made by university students, and dozens have been launched into Earth orbit using extra payload mass available on launches of larger spacecraft. The two briefcase-size MarCO CubeSats will ride along with InSight on an Atlas V launch vehicle lifting off in March 2016 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. MarCO is a technology demonstration aspect of the InSight mission and not needed for that mission's success. InSight, an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, will investigate the deep interior of Mars to advance understanding of how rocky planets, including Earth, formed and evolved. After launch, the MarCO twins and InSight will be navigated separately to Mars. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport

Mars Sample Handling Protocol Workshop Series: Workshop 2a (Sterilization)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rummel, John D. (Editor); Brunch, Carl W. (Editor); Setlow, Richard B. (Editor); DeVincenzi, Donald L. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The Space Studies Board of the National Research Council provided a series of recommendations to NASA on planetary protection requirements for future Mars sample return missions. One of the Board's key findings suggested, although current evidence of the martian surface suggests that life as we know it would not tolerate the planet's harsh environment, there remain 'plausible scenarios for extant microbial life on Mars.' Based on this conclusion, all samples returned from Mars should be considered potentially hazardous until it has been demonstrated that they are not. In response to the National Research Council's findings and recommendations, NASA has undertaken a series of workshops to address issues regarding NASA's proposed sample return missions. Work was previously undertaken at the Mars Sample Handling and Protocol Workshop 1 (March 2000) to formulate recommendations on effective methods for life detection and/or biohazard testing on returned samples. The NASA Planetary Protection Officer convened the Mars Sample Sterilization Workshop, the third in the Mars Sample Handling Protocol Workshop Series, on November 28-30, 2000 at the Holiday Inn Rosslyn Westpark, Arlington, Virginia. Because of the short timeframe between this Workshop and the second Workshop in the Series, which was convened in October 2000 in Bethesda, Maryland, they were developed in parallel, so the Sterilization Workshop and its report have therefore been designated as '2a'). The focus of Workshop 2a was to make recommendations for effective sterilization procedures for all phases of Mars sample return missions, and to answer the question of whether we can sterilize samples in such a way that the geological characteristics of the samples are not significantly altered.

Frost on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

This image shows bluish-white frost seen on the Martian surface near NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander. The image was taken by the lander's Surface Stereo Imager on the 131st Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Oct. 7, 2008). Frost is expected to continue to appear in images as fall, then winter approach Mars' northern plains.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Examining Mars with SPICE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Acton, Charles H.; Bachman, Nathaniel J.; Bytof, Jeff A.; Semenov, Boris V.; Taber, William; Turner, F. Scott; Wright, Edward D.

1999-01-01

The International Mars Conference highlights the wealth of scientific data now and soon to be acquired from an international armada of Mars-bound robotic spacecraft. Underlying the planning and interpretation of these scientific observations around and upon Mars are ancillary data and associated software needed to deal with trajectories or locations, instrument pointing, timing and Mars cartographic models. The NASA planetary community has adopted the SPICE system of ancillary data standards and allied tools to fill the need for consistent, reliable access to these basic data and a near limitless range of derived parameters. After substantial rapid growth in its formative years, the SPICE system continues to evolve today to meet new needs and improve ease of use. Adaptations to handle landers and rovers were prototyped on the Mars pathfinder mission and will next be used on Mars '01-'05. Incorporation of new methods to readily handle non-inertial reference frames has vastly extended the capability and simplified many computations. A translation of the SPICE Toolkit software suite to the C language has just been announced. To further support cartographic calculations associated with Mars exploration the SPICE developers at JPL have recently been asked by NASA to work with cartographers to develop standards and allied software for storing and accessing control net and shape model data sets; these will be highly integrated with existing SPICE components. NASA specifically supports the widest possible utilization of SPICE capabilities throughout the international space science community. With NASA backing the Russian Space Agency and Russian Academy of Science adopted the SPICE standards for the Mars 96 mission. The SPICE ephemeris component will shortly become the international standard for agencies using the Deep Space Network. U.S. and European scientists hope that ESA will employ SPICE standards on the Mars Express mission. SPICE is an open set of standards, and

Mars Up Close

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-08-05

Pan Conrad, deputy principal investigator, Sample Analysis at Mars team, NASA‘s Goddard Space Flight Center, discusses what we’ve learned from Curiosity and the other Mars rovers during a “Mars Up Close” panel discussion, Tuesday, August 5, 2014, at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Mars Rock Analysis Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-03-12

David Blake, principal investigator for Curiosity's Chemistry and Mineralogy investigation at NASA's Ames Research Center in Calif., speaks at a news conference presenting findings of the Curiosity rover's analysis of the first sample of rock powder collected on Mars, Tuesday, March 12, 2013 in Washington. The rock sample collected shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Image Relayed by MAVEN Mars Orbiter from Curiosity Mars Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-11-10

The first demonstration of NASA MAVEN Mars orbiter capability to relay data from a Mars surface mission, on Nov. 6, 2014, included this image, taken Oct. 23, 2014, by Curiosity Navigation Camera, showing part of Pahrump Hills outcrop.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Observes Changes

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-02-08

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been observing Mars in sharp detail for more than a decade, enabling it to document many types of changes, such as the way winds alter the appearance of this recent impact site. The space-rock impact that created this blast zone occurred sometime between September 2005 and February 2006, as bracketed by observations made with the Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. The location is between two large volcanos, named Ascraeus Mons and Pavonis Mons, in a dusty area of the Tharsis region of Mars. During the period from 2007 to 2012, winds blowing through the pass between the volcanoes darkened some regions and brightened others, probably by removing and depositing dust. The view covers an area about 1.0 mile (1.6 kilometers) across, at 7 degrees north latitude, 248 degrees east longitude. North is toward the top. An animation is availalble at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21267

Mars Science Laboratory Press Conference

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-07-22

NASA chief scientist, Dr. Waleed Abdalati, speaks at a Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) press conference at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on Friday, July 22, 2011 in Washington. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), or Curiosity, is scheduled to launch late this year from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and land in August 2012. Curiosity is twice as long and more than five times as heavy as previous Mars rovers. The rover will study whether the landing region at Gale crater had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

Mars Exploration Rover Flight Operations Technical Consultation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leckrone, Dave S.; Null, Cynthia H.; Caldwell, John; Graves, Claude; Konitinos, Dean A.

2009-01-01

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed two golf-cart size robotic vehicles, Spirit and Opportunity, for geological exploration of designated target areas on the surface of Mars. The primary scientific objective of these missions was the search for evidence of the presence of water on or near the surface of the planet during its history. Spirit and Opportunity were launched on June 10 and July 7, 2003, with their respective landings scheduled for January 4 and January 25, 2004 (UTC). NASA views the MER missions as particularly critical because of their scientific importance in the ongoing search for conditions under which life might have existed elsewhere in the solar system, because of their high level of public interest and because more than half of all prior missions launched to Mars internationally have failed. This report summarizes the findings and recommendations of the NASA Engineering and Safety Center review of the project.

A Martian Telecommunications Network: UHF Relay Support of the Mars Exploration Rovers by the Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Express Orbiters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, Charles D., Jr.; Barbieri, A.; Brower, E.; Estabrook, P.; Gibbs, R.; Horttor, R.; Ludwinski, J.; Mase, R.; McCarthy, C.; Schmidt, R.;

Mars Science Laboratory Rover Taking Shape

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-11-19

This image taken in August 2008 in a clean room at NASA JPL, Pasadena, Calif., shows NASA next Mars rover, the Mars Science Laboratory, in the course of its assembly, before additions of its arm, mast, laboratory instruments and other equipment.

Aeroshell for Mars Science Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

This image from July 2008 shows the aeroshell for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory while it was being worked on by spacecraft technicians at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company near Denver.

This hardware was delivered in early fall of 2008 to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., where the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft is being assembled and tested.

The aeroshell encapsulates the mission's rover and descent stage during the journey from Earth to Mars and shields them from the intense heat of friction with that upper atmosphere during the initial portion of descent.

The aeroshell has two main parts: the backshell, which is on top in this image and during the descent, and the heat shield, on the bottom. The heat shield in this image is an engineering unit for testing. The heat shield to be used in flight will be substituted later. The heat shield has a diameter of about 15 feet. For comparison, the heat shields for NASA's Mars Exploraton Rovers Spirit and Opportunity were 8.5 feet and the heat shields for the Apollo capsules that protected astronauts returning to Earth from the moon were just under 13 feet.

In addition to protecting the Mars Science Laboratory rover, the backshell provides structural support for the descent stage's parachute and sky crane, a system that will lower the rover to a soft landing on the surface of Mars. The backshell for the Mars Science Laboratory is made of an aluminum honeycomb structure sandwiched between graphite-epoxy face sheets. It is covered with a thermal protection system composed of a cork/silicone super light ablator material that originated with the Viking landers of the 1970s. This ablator material has been used on the heat shields of all NASA Mars landers in the past, but this mission is the first Mars mission using it on the backshell.

The heat shield for Mars Science Laboratory's flight will use tiles made of phenolic impregnated carbon ablator. The engineering unit in

In-Space Transportation for NASA's Evolvable Mars Campaign

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Percy, Thomas K.; McGuire, Melissa; Polsgrove, Tara

2015-01-01

As the nation embarks on a new and bold journey to Mars, significant work is being done to determine what that mission and those architectural elements will look like. The Evolvable Mars Campaign, or EMC, is being evaluated as a potential approach to getting humans to Mars. Built on the premise of leveraging current technology investments and maximizing element commonality to reduce cost and development schedule, the EMC transportation architecture is focused on developing the elements required to move crew and equipment to Mars as efficiently and effectively as possible both from a performance and a programmatic standpoint. Over the last 18 months the team has been evaluating potential options for those transportation elements. One of the key aspects of the EMC is leveraging investments being made today in missions like the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) mission using derived versions of the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) propulsion systems and coupling them with other chemical propulsion elements that maximize commonality across the architecture between both transportation and Mars operations elements. This paper outlines the broad trade space being evaluated including the different technologies being assessed for transportation elements and how those elements are assembled into an architecture. Impacts to potential operational scenarios at Mars are also investigated. Trades are being made on the size and power level of the SEP vehicle for delivering cargo as well as the size of the chemical propulsion systems and various mission aspects including Inspace assembly and sequencing. Maximizing payload delivery to Mars with the SEP vehicle will better support the operational scenarios at Mars by enabling the delivery of landers and habitation elements that are appropriately sized for the mission. The purpose of this investigation is not to find the solution but rather a suite of solutions with potential application to the challenge of sending cargo and crew to Mars

NASA Collaborative Design Processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Davey

2017-01-01

This is Block 1, the first evolution of the world's most powerful and versatile rocket, the Space Launch System, built to return humans to the area around the moon. Eventually, larger and even more powerful and capable configurations will take astronauts and cargo to Mars. On the sides of the rocket are the twin solid rocket boosters that provide more than 75 percent during liftoff and burn for about two minutes, after which they are jettisoned, lightening the load for the rest of the space flight. Four RS-25 main engines provide thrust for the first stage of the rocket. These are the world's most reliable rocket engines. The core stage is the main body of the rocket and houses the fuel for the RS-25 engines, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and the avionics, or "brain" of the rocket. The core stage is all new and being manufactured at NASA's "rocket factory," Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter, or LVSA, connects the core stage to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS, uses one RL-10 rocket engine and will propel the Orion spacecraft on its deep-space journey after first-stage separation. Finally, the Orion human-rated spacecraft sits atop the massive Saturn V-sized launch vehicle. Managed out of Johnson Space Center in Houston, Orion is the first spacecraft in history capable of taking humans to multiple destinations within deep space. 2) Each element of the SLS utilizes collaborative design processes to achieve the incredible goal of sending human into deep space. Early phases are focused on feasibility and requirements development. Later phases are focused on detailed design, testing, and operations. There are 4 basic phases typically found in each phase of development.

Human Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Architecture Study Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cianciolo, Alicia D.; Polsgrove, Tara T.

2016-01-01

The Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) Architecture Study is a multi-NASA center activity to analyze candidate EDL systems as they apply to human Mars landing in the context of the Evolvable Mars Campaign. The study, led by the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), is performed in conjunction with the NASA's Science Mission Directorate and the Human Architecture Team, sponsored by NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. The primary objective is to prioritize future STMD EDL technology investments by (1) generating Phase A-level designs for selected concepts to deliver 20 t human class payloads, (2) developing a parameterized mass model for each concept capable of examining payloads between 5 and 40 t, and (3) evaluating integrated system performance using trajectory simulations. This paper summarizes the initial study results.

Fast Track Lunar NTR Systems Assessment for NASA's First Lunar Outpost and Its Evolvability to Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Borowski, Stanley K.; Alexander, Stephen W.

1995-01-01

Integrated systems and missions studies are presented for an evolutionary lunar-to-Mars space transportation system (STS) based on nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) technology. A 'standardized' set of engine and stage components are identified and used in a 'building block' fashion to configure a variety of piloted and cargo, lunar and Mars vehicles. The reference NTR characteristics include a thrust of 50 thousand pounds force (klbf), specific impulse (I(sub sp)) of 900 seconds, and an engine thrust-to-weight ratio of 4. 3. For the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations (NASA) First Lunar Outpost (FLO) mission, and expendable NTR stage powered by two such engines can deliver approximately 96 metric tonnes (t) to trans-lunar injection (TLI) conditions for an initial mass in low Earth orbit (IMLEO) of approximately 198 t compared to 250 t for a cryogenic chemical system. The stage liquid hydrogen (LH2) tank has a diameter, length, and capacity of 10 m, 14.5 m and 66 t, respectively. By extending the stage length and LH2 capacity to approximately 20 m and 96 t, a single launch Mars cargo vehicle could deliver to an elliptical Mars parking orbit a 63 t Mars excursion vehicle (MEV) with a 45 t surface payload. Three 50 klbf engines and the two standardized LH2 tanks developed for the lunar and Mars cargo vehicles are used to configure the vehicles supporting piloted Mars missions as early as 2010. The 'modular' NTR vehicle approach forms the basis for an efficient STS able to handle the needs of a wide spectrum of lunar and Mars missions.

Mars Up Close

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-08-05

Marc Kaufman, space news writer, National Geographic and The Washington Post, and author of the new National Geographic book “Mars Up Close”, kicks off a panel discussion of Mars experts involved in current Mars exploration, Tuesday, August 5, 2014, at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington. The panelist shared what we’ve learned from Curiosity and the other Mars rovers surveying the red planet. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Requirements and Designs for Mars Rover RTGs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schock, Alfred; Shirbacheh, M; Sankarankandath, V

The current-generation RTGs (both GPHS and MOD) are designed for operation in a vacuum environment. The multifoil thermal insulation used in those RTGs only functions well in a good vacuum. Current RTGs are designed to operate with an inert cover gas before launch, and to be vented to space vacuum after launch. Both RTGs are sealed with a large number of metallic C-rings. Those seals are adequate for retaining the inert-gas overpressure during short-term launch operations, but would not be adequate to prevent intrusion of the Martian atmospheric gases during long-term operations there. Therefore, for the Mars Rover application, thosemore » RTGs just be modified to prevent the buildup of significant pressures of Mars atmosphere or of helium (from alpha decay of the fuel). In addition, a Mars Rover RTG needs to withstand a long-term dynamic environment that is much more severe than that seen by an RTG on an orbiting spacecraft or on a stationary planetary lander. This paper describes a typical Rover mission, its requirements, the environment it imposes on the RTG, and a design approach for making the RTG operable in such an environment. Specific RTG designs for various thermoelectric element alternatives are presented.; Reference CID #9268 and CID #9276.« less

Estimated Radiation on Mars, Hits per Cell Nucleus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

This global map of Mars shows estimates for amounts of high-energy-particle cosmic radiation reaching the surface, a serious health concern for any future human exploration of the planet.

The estimates are based on cosmic-radiation measurements made on the way to Mars by the Mars radiation environment experiment, an instrument on NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, plus information about Mars' surface elevations from the laser altimeter instrument on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The areas of Mars expected to have least radiation are where elevation is lowest, because those areas have more atmosphere above them to block out some of the radiation. Earth's thick atmosphere shields us from most cosmic radiation, but Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth does.

Colors in the map refer to the estimated average number of times per year each cell nucleus in a human there would be hit by a high-energy cosmic ray particle. The range is generally from two hits (color-coded green), a moderate risk level, to eight hits (coded red), a high risk level.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor missions for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington D.C. The Mars radiation environment experiment was developed by NASA's Johnson Space Center. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for Odyssey, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Mars Science Laboratory Rover Taking Shape

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

This image taken in August 2008 in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., shows NASA's next Mars rover, the Mars Science Laboratory, in the course of its assembly, before additions of its arm, mast, laboratory instruments and other equipment.

The rover is about 9 feet wide and 10 feet long.

Viewing progress on the assembly are, from left: NASA Associate Administrator for Science Ed Weiler, California Institute of Technology President Jean-Lou Chameau, JPL Director Charles Elachi, and JPL Associate Director for Flight Projects and Mission Success Tom Gavin.

JPL, a division of Caltech, manages the Mars Science Laboratory project for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Human Mars Missions: Cost Driven Architecture Assessments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Donahue, Benjamin

1998-01-01

This report investigates various methods of reducing the cost in space transportation systems for human Mars missions. The reference mission for this task is a mission currently under study at NASA. called the Mars Design Reference Mission, characterized by In-Situ propellant production at Mars. This study mainly consists of comparative evaluations to the reference mission with a view to selecting strategies that would reduce the cost of the Mars program as a whole. One of the objectives is to understand the implications of certain Mars architectures, mission modes, vehicle configurations, and potentials for vehicle reusability. The evaluations start with year 2011-2014 conjunction missions which were characterized by their abort-to-the-surface mission abort philosophy. Variations within this mission architecture, as well as outside the set to other architectures (not predicated on an abort to surface philosophy) were evaluated. Specific emphasis has been placed on identifying and assessing overall mission risk. Impacts that Mars mission vehicles might place upon the Space Station, if it were to be used as an assembly or operations base, were also discussed. Because of the short duration of this study only on a few propulsion elements were addressed (nuclear thermal, cryogenic oxygen-hydrogen, cryogenic oxygen-methane, and aerocapture). Primary ground rules and assumptions were taken from NASA material used in Marshall Space Flight Center's own assessment done in 1997.

Mars Aeronomy Explorer (MAX): Study Employing Distributed Micro-Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shotwell, Robert F.; Gray, Andrew A.; Illsley, Peter M.; Johnson, M.; Sherwood, Robert L.; Vozoff, M.; Ziemer, John K.

2005-01-01

An overview of a Mars Aeronomy Explorer (MAX) mission design study performed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is presented herein. The mission design consists of ten micro-spacecraft orbiters launched on a Delta IV to Mars polar orbit to determine the spatial, diurnal and seasonal variation of the constituents of the Martian upper atmosphere and ionosphere over the course of one Martian year. The spacecraft are designed to allow penetration of the upper atmosphere to at least 90 km. This property coupled with orbit precession will yield knowledge of the nature of the solar wind interaction with Mars, the influence of the Mars crustal magnetic field on ionospheric processes, and the measurement of present thermal and nonthermal escape rates of atmospheric constituents. The mission design incorporates alternative design paradigms that are more appropriate for-and in some cases motivate-distributed micro-spacecraft. These design paradigms are not defined by a simple set of rules, but rather a way of thinking about the function of instruments, mission reliability/risk, and cost in a systemic framework.

A Landing Site for ExoMars 2016

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-11-27

This image from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft is of a landing site that the flattest, safest place on Mars: part of Meridiani Planum, close to where the Opportunity rover landed. In March 2016, the European Space Agency in partnership with Roscosmos will launch the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. This orbiter will also carry an Entry, Descent, and Landing Demonstration Module (EDM): a lander designed primarily to demonstrate the capability to land on Mars. The EDM will survive for only a few days, running on battery power, but will make a few environmental measurements. The landing site is the flattest, safest place on Mars: part of Meridiani Planum, close to where the Opportunity rover landed. This image shows what this terrain is like: very flat and featureless. A full-resolution sample reveals the major surface features: small craters and wind ripples. HiRISE has been imaging the landing site region in advance of the landing, and will re-image the site after landing to identify the major pieces of hardware: heat shield, backshell with parachute, and the lander itself. The distribution of these pieces will provide information about the entry, descent and landing. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20159

A Martian Meteorite for Mars 2020

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-02-13

Rohit Bhartia of NASA's Mars 2020 mission holds a slice of a meteorite scientists have determined came from Mars. This slice will likely be used here on Earth for testing a laser instrument for NASA's Mars 2020 rover; a separate slice will go to Mars on the rover. Martian meteorites are believed to be the result of impacts to the Red Planet's surface, resulting in rock being blasted into the atmosphere. After traveling through space for eons, some of these rocks entered Earth's atmosphere. Scientists determine whether they are true Martian meteorites based on their rock and noble gas chemistry and mineralogy. The gases trapped in these meteorites bear the unique fingerprint of the Martian atmosphere, as recorded by NASA's Viking mission in 1976. The rock types also show clear signs of igneous processing not possible on smaller bodies, such as asteroids. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22245

Solar radiation on Mars: Update 1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Appelbaum, Joseph; Flood, Dennis J.

1990-01-01

Detailed information on solar radiation characteristics on Mars are necessary for effective design of future planned solar energy systems operating on the surface of Mars. The authors present a procedure and solar radiation related data from which the diurnally and daily variation of the global, direct beam and diffuse insolation on Mars are calculated. The radiation data are based on measured optical depth of the Martian atmosphere derived from images taken of the Sun with a special diode on the Viking Lander cameras and computation based on multiple wavelength and multiple scattering of the solar radiation. This work is an update to NASA-TM-102299 and includes a refinement of the solar radiation model.

Lowering SAM Instrument into Curiosity Mars Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-01-18

In this photograph, technicians and engineers inside a clean room at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., position NASA Sample Analysis at Mars SAM above the mission Mars rover, Curiosity, for installing the instrument.

Installing SAM Instrument into Curiosity Mars Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-01-18

In this photograph, technicians and engineers inside a clean room at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., position NASA Sample Analysis at Mars SAM above the mission Mars rover, Curiosity, for installing the instrument.

Mars 2020 MOXIE Laboratory and Principal Investigator

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-07-15

One investigation on NASA's Mars 2020 rover will extract oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. It is called MOXIE, for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment. In this image, MOXIE Principal Investigator Michael Hecht, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, is in the MOXIE development laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. Mars' atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide. Demonstration of the capability for extracting oxygen from it, under Martian environmental conditions, will be a pioneering step toward how humans on Mars will use the Red Planet's natural resources. Oxygen can be used in the rocket http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20761

Mars Greenhouse Experiment Module: An Experiment to Grow Flowers on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

MacCallum, T. K.; Poynter, J. E.; McKay, C. P.

2000-01-01

NASA has entered a new phase of in-depth exploration of the planets where robotic exploration of the Solar System is focusing on in-situ missions that pave the way for human exploration. Creating a human presence on Mars will require specialized knowledge and experience concerning the Martian environment and validated technologies that will provide life-supporting consumables. An understanding of the response of terrestrial organisms to the Martian environment with respect to potential deleterious effects on crew health and changes to biological processes will be paramount. In response to these challenges an innovative selfcontained flight experiment is proposed, which is designed to assess the biocompatibility of the Martian environment by germinating seeds and following their growth through to flowering. The experiment, dubbed Mars Greenhouse Experiment Module (Mars GEM), will be accomplished in a sealed pressurized growth chamber or 'Mars Greenhouse'. Seeds will be grown in Martian soil and the Mars Greenhouse will provide ultraviolet-radiation protected, thermal-controlled environment for plant growth that actively controls the CO2 (required nutrient) and O2 (generated by the plants) levels in the chamber. The simple, but visually dramatic, demonstration of the potential to grow a plant in a man-made environment on the surface of Mars should establish a strong connection between current robotic missions and future human habitation on Mars.

The Crucial Role of Additive Manufacturing at NASA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vickers, John

2016-01-01

At NASA, the first steps of the Journey to Mars are well underway with the development of NASA's next generation launch system and investments in research and technologies that should increase the affordability, capability, and safety of exploration activities. Additive Manufacturing presents a disruptive opportunity for NASA to design and manufacture hardware with new materials at dramatically reduced cost and schedule. Opportunities to incorporate additive manufacturing align very well with NASA missions and with most NASA programs related to space, science, and aeronautics. The Agency also relies on many partnerships with other government agencies, industry and academia.

NASA-STD-4005 and NASA-HDBK-4006, LEO Spacecraft Solar Array Charging Design Standard

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferguson, Dale C.

2007-01-01

Two new NASA Standards are now official. They are the NASA LEO Spacecraft Charging Design Standard (NASA-STD-4005) and the NASA LEO Spacecraft Charging Design Handbook (NASA-HDBK-4006). They give the background and techniques for controlling solar array-induced charging and arcing in LEO. In this paper, a brief overview of the new standards is given, along with where they can be obtained and who should be using them.

Student Interns Work on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowman, C. D.; Bebak, M.; Bollen, D. M.; Curtis, K.; Daniel, C.; Grigsby, B.; Herman, T.; Haynes, E.; Lineberger, D. H.; Pieruccini, S.

2004-01-01

The exceptional imagery and data acquired by the Mars Exploration Rovers since their January 2004 landing have captured the attention of scientists, the public, and students and teachers worldwide. One aspect of particular interest lies with a group of high school teachers and students actively engaged in the Athena Student Interns Program. The Athena Student Interns Program (ASIP) is a joint effort between NASA s Mars Public Engagement Office and the Athena Science Investigation that began in early 1999 as a pilot student-scientist research partnership program associated with the FIDO prototype Mars rover field test . The program is designed to actively engage high school students and their teachers in Mars exploration and scientific inquiry. In ASIP, groups of students and teachers from around the country work with mentors from the mission s Athena Science Team to carry out an aspect of the mission.

Design Concept for a Nuclear Reactor-Powered Mars Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elliott, John; Poston, Dave; Lipinski, Ron

2007-01-01

A report presents a design concept for an instrumented robotic vehicle (rover) to be used on a future mission of exploration of the planet Mars. The design incorporates a nuclear fission power system to provide long range, long life, and high power capabilities unachievable through the use of alternative solar or radioisotope power systems. The concept described in the report draws on previous rover designs developed for the 2009 Mars Science laboratory (MSL) mission to minimize the need for new technology developments.

New NASA Technologies for Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Calle, Carlos I.

2015-01-01

NASA is developing new technologies to enable planetary exploration. NASA's Space Launch System is an advance vehicle for exploration beyond LEO. Robotic explorers like the Mars Science Laboratory are exploring Mars, making discoveries that will make possible the future human exploration of the planet. In this presentation, we report on technologies being developed at NASA KSC for planetary exploration.

Pratt & Whitney ESCORT derivative for mars surface power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feller, Gerald J.; Joyner, Russell

1999-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to address the applicability of a common reactor system design from the Pratt & Whitney ESCORT nuclear thermal rocket engine concept to support current NASA mars surface-based power requirements. The ESCORT is a bimodal engine capable of supporting a wide range of propulsive thermal and vehicle electrical power requirements. The ESCORT engine is powered by a fast-spectrum beryllium-reflected CERMET-fueled nuclear reactor. In addition to an expander cycle propulsive mode, the ESCORT is capable of operating in an electrical power mode. In this mode, the reactor is used to heat a mixture of helium and xenon to drive a closed-loop Brayton cycle in order to generate electrical energy. Recent Design Reference Mission requirements (DRM) from NASA Johnson Space Center and NASA Lewis Research Center studies in 1997 and 1998 have detailed upgraded requirements for potential mars transfer missions. The current NASA DRM requires a nuclear thermal propulsion system capable of delivering total mission requirements of 200170 N (45000 lbf) thrust and 50 kWe of spacecraft electrical power. Additionally, these requirements detailed a surface power system capable of providing approximately 160 kW of electrical energy over an approximate 10 year period within a given weight and volume envelope. Current NASA studies use a SP-100 reactor (0.8 MT) and a NERVA derivative (1.6 MT) as baseline systems. A mobile power cart of approximate dimensions 1.7 m×4.5 m×4.4 m has been conceptualized to transport the reactor power system on the Mars Surface. The 63.25 cm diameter and 80.25 cm height of the ESCORT and its 1.3 MT of weight fit well within the current weight and volume target range of the NASA DRM requirements. The modifications required to the ESCORT reactor system to support this upgraded electrical power requirements along with operation in the Martian atmospheric conditions are addressed in this paper. Sufficient excess reactivity and burnup capability

Mars Surface Tunnel Element Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rucker, Michelle A.; Mary, Natalie; Howe, A. Scott; Jeffries, Sharon

2016-01-01

How Mars surface crews get into their ascent vehicle has profound implications for Mars surface architecture. To meet planetary protection protocols, the architecture has get Intravehicular Activity (IVA)-suited crew into a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) without having to step outside into the Mars environment. Pushing EVA suit don/doff and EVA operations to an element that remains on the surface also helps to minimize MAV cabin volume, which in turn can reduce MAV cabin mass. Because the MAV will require at least seven kilograms of propellant to ascend each kilogram of cabin mass, minimal MAV mass is desired. For architectures involving more than one surface element-such as an ascent vehicle and a pressurized rover or surface habitat-a retractable tunnel is an attractive solution. Beyond addressing the immediate MAV access issue, a reusable tunnel may be useful for other surface applications once its primary mission is complete. A National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) team is studying the optimal balance between surface tunnel functionality, mass, and stowed volume as part of the Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC). The "Minimum Functional Tunnel" is a conceptual design that performs a single function. Having established this baseline configuration, the next step is to trade design options, evaluate other applications, and explore alternative solutions.

Mars orbiter conceptual systems design study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dixon, W.; Vogl, J.

1982-01-01

Spacecraft system and subsystem designs at the conceptual level to perform either of two Mars Orbiter missions, a Climatology Mission and an Aeronomy Mission were developed. The objectives of these missions are to obtain and return data.

Planetary protection requirements for orbiter and netlander elements of the CNES/NASA Mars sample return mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Debus, A.

In the framework of Mars exploration, particularly for missions dedicated to the search for life or for traces of ancient forms of life, NASA and CNES have decided to join their efforts in order to build a Mars sample return mission. Taking into account article IX of the OUTER SPACE TREATY (Treaty on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial, referenced 610 UNTS 205 - resolution 2222(XXI) of December 1966, ratified in London / Washington January 27, 1967) and in order to comply with the COSPAR planetary protection recommendations, a common planetary protection program has to be established. Mars in-situ experimentations are limited by the size and the mass of the instruments necessary to perform exobiology investigations and, consequently, it appears that the best way to conduct such experiments is to bring back Mars samples to Earth. A sample return mission enables the use of a very large number of instruments and analysis protocols, giving exobiologists the best chance to find living entities or organic compounds related to life. Such a mission is complicated from a planetary protection point of view, it combines constraints for the protection of both the Mars environment as well as Earth, including the preservation of samples to ensure the validity of exobiological experiments.

Planetary protection and Mars: requirements and constraints on the 2016 and 2018 missions, and beyond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rummel, J.; Kminek, G.; Conley, C.

2011-10-01

The suite of missions being planned currently by NASA and ESA as a partnership under the name "ExoMars" include an orbiter and an entry, descent, and landing demonstrator module (EDM) for the 2016 "ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter" mission (ExoMars TGO), as well as a highly capable rover to be launched in 2018 to address the original ExoMars objectives (including the Pasteur payload). This 2018 ExoMars rover is expected to begin a series of missions leading to the first sample return mission from Mars, also conducted jointly between NASA, ESA, and their partners (JMSR). Each of these missions and mission components has a role in enabling future Mars exploration, including the search for life or life-related compounds on Mars, and each of them has the potential to carry confounding biological and organic materials into sensitive environments on Mars. Accordingly, this suite of missions will be subjected to joint planetary protection requirements applied by both ESA and NASA to their respective components, according to the COSPAR-delineated planetary protection policy to protect Mars from contamination, and eventually to provide for the protection of the Earth from potential life returned in a martian sample. This paper will discuss the challenges ahead for mission designers and the mission science teams, and will outline some of the potential pitfalls involved with different mission options.

Mars Pathfinder Rover-Lewis Research Center Technology Experiments Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevenson, Steven M.

1997-01-01

An overview of NASA's Mars Pathfinder Program is given and the development and role of three technology experiments from NASA's Lewis Research Center and carried on the Mars Pathfinder rover is described. Two recent missions to Mars were developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and launched late last year: Mars Global Surveyor in November 1996 and Mars Pathfinder in December 1996. Mars Global Surveyor is an orbiter which will survey the planet with a number of different instruments, and will arrive in September 1997, and Mars Pathfinder which consists of a lander and a small rover, landing on Mars July 4, 1997. These are the first two missions of the Mars Exploration Program consisting of a ten year series of small robotic martian probes to be launched every 26 months. The Pathfinder rover will perform a number of technology and operational experiments which will provide the engineering information necessary to design and operate more complex, scientifically oriented surface missions involving roving vehicles and other machinery operating in the martian environment. Because of its expertise in space power systems and technologies, space mechanisms and tribology, Lewis Research Center was asked by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is heading the Mars Pathfinder Program, to contribute three experiments concerning the effects of the martian environment on surface solar power systems and the abrasive qualities of the Mars surface material. In addition, rover static charging was investigated and a static discharge system of several fine Tungsten points was developed and fixed to the rover. These experiments and current findings are described herein.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) undergoes a weight and center of gravity determination in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans can't yet go. Launch of MER-2 is scheduled for June 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-05-09

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) undergoes a weight and center of gravity determination in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans can't yet go. Launch of MER-2 is scheduled for June 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility prepare the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) for a weight and center of gravity determination. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans can't yet go. Launch of MER-2 is scheduled for June 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-05-09

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility prepare the Mars Exploration Rover 2 (MER-2) for a weight and center of gravity determination. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans can't yet go. Launch of MER-2 is scheduled for June 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

A Mars orbiter mission design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castronuovo, Marco M.

1992-08-01

A preliminary study of a new orbiter mission to Mars using an earth gravity assist is presented. The trajectory resulting from this study has been evaluated utilizing Everhart's (1985) integrator RADAU. The mission sequences are described and compared to other proposed mission designs and some mission opportunities for the years 1997 to 2014 are discussed.

Towards Risk Based Design for NASA's Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tumer, Irem Y.; Barrientos, Francesca; Meshkat, Leila

2004-01-01

This paper describes the concept of Risk Based Design in the context of NASA s low volume, high cost missions. The concept of accounting for risk in the design lifecycle has been discussed and proposed under several research topics, including reliability, risk analysis, optimization, uncertainty, decision-based design, and robust design. This work aims to identify and develop methods to enable and automate a means to characterize and optimize risk, and use risk as a tradeable resource to make robust and reliable decisions, in the context of the uncertain and ambiguous stage of early conceptual design. This paper first presents a survey of the related topics explored in the design research community as they relate to risk based design. Then, a summary of the topics from the NASA-led Risk Colloquium is presented, followed by current efforts within NASA to account for risk in early design. Finally, a list of "risk elements", identified for early-phase conceptual design at NASA, is presented. The purpose is to lay the foundation and develop a roadmap for future work and collaborations for research to eliminate and mitigate these risk elements in early phase design.

Integrated Human-Robotic Missions to the Moon and Mars: Mission Operations Design Implications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mishkin, Andrew; Lee, Young; Korth, David; LeBlanc, Troy

2007-01-01

For most of the history of space exploration, human and robotic programs have been independent, and have responded to distinct requirements. The NASA Vision for Space Exploration calls for the return of humans to the Moon, and the eventual human exploration of Mars; the complexity of this range of missions will require an unprecedented use of automation and robotics in support of human crews. The challenges of human Mars missions, including roundtrip communications time delays of 6 to 40 minutes, interplanetary transit times of many months, and the need to manage lifecycle costs, will require the evolution of a new mission operations paradigm far less dependent on real-time monitoring and response by an Earthbound operations team. Robotic systems and automation will augment human capability, increase human safety by providing means to perform many tasks without requiring immediate human presence, and enable the transfer of traditional mission control tasks from the ground to crews. Developing and validating the new paradigm and its associated infrastructure may place requirements on operations design for nearer-term lunar missions. The authors, representing both the human and robotic mission operations communities, assess human lunar and Mars mission challenges, and consider how human-robot operations may be integrated to enable efficient joint operations, with the eventual emergence of a unified exploration operations culture.

Integrated Human-Robotic Missions to the Moon and Mars: Mission Operations Design Implications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Korth, David; LeBlanc, Troy; Mishkin, Andrew; Lee, Young

2006-01-01

For most of the history of space exploration, human and robotic programs have been independent, and have responded to distinct requirements. The NASA Vision for Space Exploration calls for the return of humans to the Moon, and the eventual human exploration of Mars; the complexity of this range of missions will require an unprecedented use of automation and robotics in support of human crews. The challenges of human Mars missions, including roundtrip communications time delays of 6 to 40 minutes, interplanetary transit times of many months, and the need to manage lifecycle costs, will require the evolution of a new mission operations paradigm far less dependent on real-time monitoring and response by an Earthbound operations team. Robotic systems and automation will augment human capability, increase human safety by providing means to perform many tasks without requiring immediate human presence, and enable the transfer of traditional mission control tasks from the ground to crews. Developing and validating the new paradigm and its associated infrastructure may place requirements on operations design for nearer-term lunar missions. The authors, representing both the human and robotic mission operations communities, assess human lunar and Mars mission challenges, and consider how human-robot operations may be integrated to enable efficient joint operations, with the eventual emergence of a unified exploration operations culture.

Launching to the Moon, Mars, and Beyond

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shivers, C. Herbert

2008-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the planned launching to the Moon, and Mars. It is important to build beyond the capacity to ferry astronauts and cargo to low Earth orbit. NASA is starting to design new vehicles using the past lessons to minimize cost, and technical risks. The training and education of engineers that will continue the work of designing, testing and flying the vehicles is important to NASA. The following questions were addressed: 1) What is NASA's mission? 2) Why do we explore? 3) What is our timeline? 4) Why the Moon first? 5) What will the vehicles look like? 5) What progress have we made? 6) Who will be doing the work? and 7) What are the benefits of space exploration?

MARS Mission research center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The Mars Mission Research Center (M2RC) is one of nine University Space Engineering Research Centers established by NASA in June 1988. It is a cooperative effort between NCSU and A&T in Greensboro. The goal of the Center is to focus on research and educational technologies for planetary exploration with particular emphasis on Mars. The research combines Mission Analysis and Design, Hypersonic Aerodynamics and Propulsion, Structures and Controls, Composite Materials, and Fabrication Methods in a cross-disciplined program directed towards the development of space transportation systems for lunar and planetary travel. The activities of the students and faculty in the M2RC for the period 1 Jul. 1990 to 30 Jun. 1991 are described.

50 Years of Mars Exploration

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-08-20

2015 marks 50 years of successful NASA missions to Mars starting with Mariner 4 in 1965. Since then, a total of 15 robotic missions led by various NASA centers have laid the groundwork for future human missions to the Red Planet. The journey to Mars continues with additional robotic missions planned for 2016 and 2020, and human missions in the 2030s.

Solar Electric Propulsion for Mars Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hack, Kurt J.

1998-01-01

Highly propellant-efficient electric propulsion is being combined with advanced solar power technology to provide a non-nuclear transportation option for the human exploration of Mars. By virtue of its high specific impulse, electric propulsion offers a greater change in spacecraft velocity for each pound of propellant than do conventional chemical rockets. As a result, a mission to Mars based on solar electric propulsion (SEP) would require fewer heavy-lift launches than a traditional all-chemical space propulsion scenario would. Performance, as measured by mass to orbit and trip time, would be comparable to the NASA design reference mission for human Mars exploration, which utilizes nuclear thermal propulsion; but it would avoid the issues surrounding the use of nuclear reactors in space.

Pioneer Mars surface penetrator mission. Mission analysis and orbiter design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1974-01-01

The Mars Surface Penetrator mission was designed to provide a capability for multiple and diverse subsurface science measurements at a low cost. Equipment required to adapt the Pioneer Venus spacecraft for the Mars mission is described showing minor modifications to hardware. Analysis and design topics which are similar and/or identical to the Pioneer Venus program are briefly discussed.

Mars curiosity mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-04

NASA welcomed hundreds of children and accompanying adults to its INFINITY visitor center on Aug. 4, offering Mars-related activities that focused attention on the space agency's Curiosity mission to the Red Planet. Among other attractions, 3-D images from Mars provided 'Wow!' glimpses of the Red Planet. In addition to the Mars activities, visitors were able to tour other space-related exhibits at the center.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Assembly of the backshell and heat shield surrounding the Mars Exploration Rover 1 (MER-1) is complete. The resulting aeroshell will protect the rover on its journey to Mars. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans can't yet go. MER-1 is scheduled to launch June 25 as MER-B aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-05-15

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Assembly of the backshell and heat shield surrounding the Mars Exploration Rover 1 (MER-1) is complete. The resulting aeroshell will protect the rover on its journey to Mars. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans can't yet go. MER-1 is scheduled to launch June 25 as MER-B aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Mars Parachute Testing in World Largest Wind Tunnel

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-04-22

The parachute for NASA next mission to Mars passed flight-qualification testing in March and April 2009 inside the world largest wind tunnel, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, to be launched in 2011 and land on Mars in 2012, will use the largest parachute ever built to fly on an extraterrestrial mission. This image shows a duplicate qualification-test parachute inflated in an 80-mile-per-hour (36-meter-per-second) wind inside the test facility. The parachute uses a configuration called disk-gap-band. It has 80 suspension lines, measures more than 50 meters (165 feet) in length, and opens to a diameter of nearly 16 meters (51 feet). Most of the orange and white fabric is nylon, though a small disk of heavier polyester is used near the vent in the apex of the canopy due to higher stresses there. It is designed to survive deployment at Mach 2.2 in the Martian atmosphere, where it will generate up to 65,000 pounds of drag force. The wind tunnel is 24 meters (80 feet) tall and 37 meters (120 feet) wide, big enough to house a Boeing 737. It is part of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex, operated by the Arnold Engineering Development Center of the U.S. Air Force. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11995

First MARS Outpost: Development Considerations and Concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, L.

2002-01-01

The Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture (SICSA) is undertaking a multi-year research and design study that is exploring near and long-term commercial space development opportunities. The central goal of this activity is to conceptualize a scenario of sequential, integrated private enterprise initiatives that can carry humankind forward to Mars. This presentation highlights planning considerations and design concepts for establishing a first settlement on Mars. The outpost would support surface missions lasting up to about 500 days and would serve as the initial stage of a larger and continuously operational development which would utilize Mars resources to be less reliant on materials from Earth. Key elements of this first stage mission development sequence include a new heavy-lift Earth-to-orbit launch vehicle; a plasma- drive Mars transit vehicle; habitat modules for crews in transit to and from Mars; "hard" and "inflatable" surface habitats and laboratories; a mobile power unit; a spacecraft to assist orbital assembly; and vehicles to lift crews off the Mars surface and land them safely back on Earth from LEO. SICSA's space development approach differs in fundamental ways from conventional NASA-sponsored initiatives. First, virtually all baseline planning assumptions are influenced by the private sector-driven nature of an approach that aims to avoid all possible reliance upon government financing, agendas and schedules. In this regard, any involvements with NASA or the space agencies of other countries would be premised upon mutual public-corporate partnership benefits rather than upon federal contract awards, management and control. Another potential difference relates to program philosophy. Unlike Apollo Program "sprint" missions which culminated with footprints and flagpoles on the Moon, the aim is to realize sustainable and continuing planetary exploration and development progress. This goal can be advanced through approaches that

Mars for Earthlings: An Analog Approach to Mars in Undergraduate Education

PubMed Central

Kahmann-Robinson, Julia

2014-01-01

Abstract Mars for Earthlings (MFE) is a terrestrial Earth analog pedagogical approach to teaching undergraduate geology, planetary science, and astrobiology. MFE utilizes Earth analogs to teach Mars planetary concepts, with a foundational backbone in Earth science principles. The field of planetary science is rapidly changing with new technologies and higher-resolution data sets. Thus, it is increasingly important to understand geological concepts and processes for interpreting Mars data. MFE curriculum is topically driven to facilitate easy integration of content into new or existing courses. The Earth-Mars systems approach explores planetary origins, Mars missions, rocks and minerals, active driving forces/tectonics, surface sculpting processes, astrobiology, future explorations, and hot topics in an inquiry-driven environment. Curriculum leverages heavily upon multimedia resources, software programs such as Google Mars and JMARS, as well as NASA mission data such as THEMIS, HiRISE, CRISM, and rover images. Two years of MFE class evaluation data suggest that science literacy and general interest in Mars geology and astrobiology topics increased after participation in the MFE curriculum. Students also used newly developed skills to create a Mars mission team presentation. The MFE curriculum, learning modules, and resources are available online at http://serc.carleton.edu/marsforearthlings/index.html. Key Words: Mars—Geology—Planetary science—Astrobiology—NASA education. Astrobiology 14, 42–49. PMID:24359289

NASA Facts, The Viking Mission.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC. Educational Programs Div.

Presented is one of a series of publications of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facts about the exploration of Mars. The Viking mission to Mars, consisting of two unmanned NASA spacecraft launched in August and September, 1975, is described. A description of the spacecraft and their paths is given. A diagram identifying the…

Radiation Measurements on Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-12-09

Micrograys are unit of measurement for absorbed radiation dose. The vertical axis is in micrograys per day. The RAD instrument on NASA Curiosity Mars rover monitors the natural radiation environment at the surface of Mars.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Nine-year-old Sofi Collis (left) shares a light moment with NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe at a press conference. The Siberian-born Arizona resident wrote the winning entry in the Name the Rovers Contest sponsored by NASA and the Lego Co., a Denmark-based toymaker, with collaboration from the Planetary Society, Pasadena, Calif. The names she selected for the Mars Exploration Rovers are "Spirit" and "Opportunity." The third grader's essay was chosen from more than 10,000 American student entries. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans are not yet able to go. MER-A, with the rover Spirit aboard, is scheduled to launch on June 8 at 2:06 p.m. EDT, with two launch opportunities each day during a launch period that closes on June 24.

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-06-08

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Nine-year-old Sofi Collis (left) shares a light moment with NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe at a press conference. The Siberian-born Arizona resident wrote the winning entry in the Name the Rovers Contest sponsored by NASA and the Lego Co., a Denmark-based toymaker, with collaboration from the Planetary Society, Pasadena, Calif. The names she selected for the Mars Exploration Rovers are "Spirit" and "Opportunity." The third grader's essay was chosen from more than 10,000 American student entries. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers are designed to study the history of water on Mars. These robotic geologists are equipped with a robotic arm, a drilling tool, three spectrometers, and four pairs of cameras that allow them to have a human-like, 3D view of the terrain. Each rover could travel as far as 100 meters in one day to act as Mars scientists' eyes and hands, exploring an environment where humans are not yet able to go. MER-A, with the rover Spirit aboard, is scheduled to launch on June 8 at 2:06 p.m. EDT, with two launch opportunities each day during a launch period that closes on June 24.

Strengthening the Mars Telecommunications Network

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-29

On Nov. 22, 2016, a NASA radio aboard the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Trace Gas Orbiter, which arrived at Mars the previous month, succeeded in its first test of receiving data transmitted from NASA Mars rovers, both Opportunity and Curiosity. This graphic depicts the geometry of Opportunity transmitting data to the orbiter, using the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band of radio wavelengths. The orbiter received that data using one of its twin Electra UHF-band radios. Data that the orbiter's Electra received from the two rovers was subsequently transmitted from the orbiter to Earth, using the orbiter's main X-band radio. The Trace Gas Orbiter is part of ESA's ExoMars program. During the initial months after its Oct. 19, 2016, arrival, it is flying in a highly elliptical orbit. Each loop takes 4.2 days to complete, with distances between the orbiter and the planet's surface ranging from about 60,000 miles (about 100,000 kilometers) to less than 200 miles (less than 310 kilometers). Later, the mission will reshape the orbit to a near-circular path about 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the surface of Mars. Three NASA orbiters and one other ESA orbiter currently at Mars also have relayed data from Mars rovers to Earth. This strategy enables receiving much more data from the surface missions than would be possible with a direct-to-Earth radio link from rovers or stationary landers. Successful demonstration of the capability added by the Trace Gas Orbiter strengthens and extends the telecommunications network at Mars for supporting future missions to the surface of the Red Planet. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21139

Mars Hand Lens Imager Sends Ultra High-Res Photo from Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-10-17

This image of a U.S. penny on a calibration target was taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager MAHLI aboard NASA Curiosity rover in Gale Crater on Mars. At 14 micrometers per pixel, this is the highest-resolution image that MAHLI can acquire.

Lowest cost, nearest term options for a manned Mars mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sauls, Bob; Mortensen, Michael; Myers, Renee; Guacci, Giovanni; Montes, Fred

1992-01-01

This study is part of a NASA/USRA Advanced Design Program project executed for the purpose of examining the requirements of a first manned Mars mission. The mission, classified as a split/sprint mission, has been designed for a crew of six with a total manned trip time of one year.

Design of a Mars rover and sample return mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bourke, Roger D.; Kwok, Johnny H.; Friedlander, Alan

1990-01-01

The design of a Mars Rover Sample Return (MRSR) mission that satisfies scientific and human exploration precursor needs is described. Elements included in the design include an imaging rover that finds and certifies safe landing sites and maps rover traverse routes, a rover that operates the surface with an associated lander for delivery, and a Mars communications orbiter that allows full-time contact with surface elements. A graph of MRSR candidate launch vehice performances is presented.

How Habitable Might an Exo-Mars Be?

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-13

How habitable might an Exo-Mars be? It's a complex question but one that NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission can help answer. To receive the same amount of starlight as Mars receives from our Sun, a planet orbiting an M-type red dwarf would have to be positioned much closer to its star than Mercury is to the Sun. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22075

An optimal system design process for a Mars roving vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pavarini, C.; Baker, J.; Goldberg, A.

1971-01-01

The problem of determining the optimal design for a Mars roving vehicle is considered. A system model is generated by consideration of the physical constraints on the design parameters and the requirement that the system be deliverable to the Mars surface. An expression which evaluates system performance relative to mission goals as a function of the design parameters only is developed. The use of nonlinear programming techniques to optimize the design is proposed and an example considering only two of the vehicle subsystems is formulated and solved.

Mars Sample Handling Protocol Workshop Series: Workshop 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rummel, John D. (Editor); Acevedo, Sara E. (Editor); Kovacs, Gregory T. A. (Editor); Race, Margaret S. (Editor); DeVincenzi, Donald L. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Numerous NASA reports and studies have identified Planetary Protection (PP) as an important part of any Mars sample return mission. The mission architecture, hardware, on-board experiments, and related activities must be designed in ways that prevent both forward- and back-contamination and also ensure maximal return of scientific information. A key element of any PP effort for sample return missions is the development of guidelines for containment and analysis of returned sample(s). As part of that effort, NASA and the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Research Council (NRC) have each assembled experts from a wide range of scientific fields to identify and discuss issues pertinent to sample return. In 1997, the SSB released its report on recommendations for handling and testing of returned Mars samples. In particular, the NRC recommended that: a) samples returned from Mars by spacecraft should be contained and treated as potentially hazardous until proven otherwise, and b) rigorous physical, chemical, and biological analyses [should] confirm that there is no indication of the presence of any exogenous biological entity. Also in 1997, a Mars Sample Quarantine Protocol workshop was convened at NASA Ames Research Center to deal with three specific aspects of the initial handling of a returned Mars sample: 1) biocontainment, to prevent 'uncontrolled release' of sample material into the terrestrial environment; 2) life detection, to examine the sample for evidence of organisms; and 3) biohazard testing, to determine if the sample poses any threat to terrestrial life forms and the Earth's biosphere. In 1999, a study by NASA's Mars Sample Handling and Requirements Panel (MSHARP) addressed three other specific areas in anticipation of returning samples from Mars: 1) sample collection and transport back to Earth; 2) certification of the samples as non-hazardous; and 3) sample receiving, curation, and distribution. To further refine the requirements for sample

Mars Science Laboratory Press Conference

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-07-22

Michael Watkins (third from left), mission manager and project engineer, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, Calif., speaks at a press conference at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on Friday, July 22, 2011 in Washington. From left to right, Watkins is joined by Dwayne Brown, NASA Headquarters public affairs officer; Michael Meyer, lead scientist Mars Exploration Program, NASA Headquarters; Watkins; John Grant, geologist, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington; Dawn Sumner, geologist, University of California, Davis and John Grotzinger, MSL project scientist, JPL. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)

InSight Probes the 'Inner Space' of Mars

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-01-25

An artist's impression of the InSight lander on Mars. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough check up since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. It is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast between May 5 through June 8, 2018, and land on Mars six months later. InSight will look for tectonic activity and meteorite impacts, study how much heat is still flowing through the planet, and track Mars' wobble as it orbits the sun. While InSight is a Mars mission, it's more than a Mars mission. InSight will help answer key questions about the formation of the rocky planets of the solar system. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22226

Cancer Risk Map for the Surface of Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, Myung-Hee Y.; Cucinotta, Francis A.

2011-01-01

We discuss calculations of the median and 95th percentile cancer risks on the surface of Mars for different solar conditions. The NASA Space Radiation Cancer Risk 2010 model is used to estimate gender and age specific cancer incidence and mortality risks for astronauts exploring Mars. Organ specific fluence spectra and doses for large solar particle events (SPE) and galactic cosmic rays (GCR) at various levels of solar activity are simulated using the HZETRN/QMSFRG computer code, and the 2010 version of the Badhwar and O Neill GCR model. The NASA JSC propensity model of SPE fluence and occurrence is used to consider upper bounds on SPE fluence for increasing mission lengths. In the transport of particles through the Mars atmosphere, a vertical distribution of Mars atmospheric thickness is calculated from the temperature and pressure data of Mars Global Surveyor, and the directional cosine distribution is implemented to describe the spherically distributed atmospheric distance along the slant path at each elevation on Mars. The resultant directional shielding by Mars atmosphere at each elevation is coupled with vehicle and body shielding for organ dose estimates. Astronaut cancer risks are mapped on the global topography of Mars, which was measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter. Variation of cancer risk on the surface of Mars is due to a 16-km elevation range, and the large difference is obtained between the Tharsis Montes (Ascraeus, Pavonis, and Arsia) and the Hellas impact basin. Cancer incidence risks are found to be about 2-fold higher than mortality risks with a disproportionate increase in skin and thyroid cancers for all astronauts and breast cancer risk for female astronauts. The number of safe days on Mars to be below radiation limits at the 95th percent confidence level is reported for several Mission design scenarios.

NASA System Engineering Design Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roman, Jose

2011-01-01

This slide presentation reviews NASA's use of systems engineering for the complete life cycle of a project. Systems engineering is a methodical, disciplined approach for the design, realization, technical management, operations, and retirement of a system. Each phase of a NASA project is terminated with a Key decision point (KDP), which is supported by major reviews.

Rotorcraft as Mars Scouts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Young, L. A.; Aiken, E. W.; Gulick, V.; Mancinelli, R.; Briggs, G. A.; Rutkowski, Michael (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

A new approach for the robotic exploration of Mars is detailed in this paper: the use of small, ultralightweight, autonomous rotary-wing aerial platforms. Missions based on robotic rotorcraft could make excellent candidates for NASA Mars Scout program. The paper details the work to date and future planning required for the development of such 'Mars rotorcraft.'

Mars: The Viking Discoveries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

French, Bevan M.

This booklet describes the results of NASA's Viking spacecraft on Mars. It is intended to be useful for the teacher of basic courses in earth science, space science, astronomy, physics, or geology, but is also of interest to the well-informed layman. Topics include why we should study Mars, how the Viking spacecraft works, the winds of Mars, the…

Lifting SAM Instrument for Installation into Mars Rover

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-01-18

NASA Sample Analysis at Mars SAM instrument, largest of the 10 science instruments for NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission, will examine samples of Martian rocks, soil and atmosphere for information about chemicals that are important to life.

Radiation Assessment Detector for Mars Science Laboratory

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-11-09

The Radiation Assessment Detector, shown prior to its September 2010 installation onto NASA Mars rover Curiosity, will aid future human missions to Mars by providing information about the radiation environment on Mars and on the way to Mars.

Radiation Exposure Comparisons with Mars Trip Calculation

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-12-09

Measurements with the MSL RAD on NASA Curiosity Mars rover during the flight to Mars and now on the surface of Mars enable an estimate of the radiation astronauts would be exposed to on an expedition to Mars.

NASA puts JWST Back on Track, but ExoMars Collaboration Looks Unlikely; Marsquakes happening yesterday, geologically; UFOs from black holes control shape of galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2012-04-01

NASA's funding plans put the James Webb Space Telescope firmly on track for a launch in 2018, to widespread relief, but the essentially flat funding settlement for 2013 overall means something has to go. Planetary science seems hardest hit, with the especial blow for European planetary scientists of NASA pulling out of ExoMars, the ESA-led mission to look for signs of life on Mars. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment have shown boulders displaced by seismic activity on Mars in the past few million years, and possibly much more recently than that. The bigger the supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy, the faster the stars in the galactic bulge rotate. Why this should be so has been something of a puzzle, but now a mechanism that is both powerful and common enough to do the job has been identified.

Mars as a Destination in a Capability-Driven Framework

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffman, S. J.; Drake, B. G.; Baker, J. D.; Voels, S. A.

2011-01-01

This paper describes NASA s current plans for the exploration of Mars by human crews within NASA s Capability-Driven Framework (CDF). The CDF describes an approach for progressively extending human explorers farther into the Solar System for longer periods of time as allowed by developments in technology and spacecraft systems. Within this framework, Mars defines the most challenging objective currently envisioned for human spaceflight. The paper first describes the CDF and potential destinations being considered within this framework. For destinations relevant to the exploration of Mars, this includes both the Martian surface and the two moons of Mars. This is followed by a brief review of our evolving understanding of Mars to provide the context for the specific objectives set for human exploration crews. This includes results from robotic missions and goals set for future Martian exploration by NASA's community-based forum, the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) and the MEPAG-sponsored Human Exploration of Mars - Science Analysis Group (HEM-SAG). The paper then reviews options available for human crews to reach Mars and return to Earth. This includes a discussion of the rationale used to select from among these options for envisioned Mars exploration missions. The paper then concludes with a description of technological and operational challenges that still face NASA in order to be able to achieve the exploration goals for Mars within the CDF.

Orion Journey to Mars, L-2 Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-12-02

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Mike Bolger, program manager of Ground Systems Development and Operations Program, and Chris Crumbly, manager of Space Launch System Spacecraft/Payload Integration and Evolution, were among several agency leaders who spoke to members of the news media about how the first fight of the new Orion spacecraft is a first step in NASA's plans to send humans to Mars. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars. It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. The first unpiloted flight test of Orion is scheduled to launch Dec. 4, 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, and in 2018 on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket.

Happy Mars Solstice!

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

This image was acquired by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) in the late afternoon of the 30th Martian day of the mission, or Sol 30 (June 25, 2008). This is hours after the beginning of Martian northern summer. SSI used its natural-color filters, therefore the color is the color you would see on Mars. The image shows shadows from the SSI (left) and from the meteorological station mast (right) stretching toward the east as the sun dropped low in the west.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver

Revisiting Nuclear Thermal Propulsion for Human Mars Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Percy, Thomas K.; Rodriguez, Mitchell

2017-01-01

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) has long been considered as a viable in-space transportation alternative for delivering crew and cargo to the Martian system. While technology development work in nuclear propulsion has continued over the year, general interest in NTP propulsion applications has historically been tied directly to the ebb and flow of interest in sending humans to explore Mars. As far back as the 1960’s, plans for NTP-based human Mars exploration have been proposed and periodically revisited having most recently been considered as part of NASA Design Reference Architecture (DRA) 5.0. NASA has been investigating human Mars exploration strategies tied to its current Journey to Mars for the past few years however, NTP has only recently been added into the set of alternatives under consideration for in-space propulsion under the Mars Study Capability (MSC) team, formerly the Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC) team. The original charter of the EMC was to find viable human Mars exploration approaches that relied heavily on technology investment work already underway, specifically related to the development of large Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) systems. The EMC team baselined several departures from traditional Mars exploration ground rules to enable these types of architectures. These ground rule changes included lower energy conjunction class trajectories with corresponding longer flight times, aggregation of mission elements in cis-Lunar space rather than Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and, in some cases, the pre-deployment of Earth return propulsion systems to Mars. As the MSC team continues to refine the in-space transportation trades, an NTP-based architecture that takes advantage of some of these ground rule departures is being introduced.

Size Comparison: Three Generations of Mars Rovers

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-11-19

Full-scale models of three generations of NASA Mars rovers show the increase in size from the Sojourner rover of the Mars Pathfinder project, to the twin Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, to the Mars Science Laboratory rover.

Mars Pathfinder Status at Launch

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spear, A. J.; Freeman, Delma C., Jr.; Braun, Robert D.

1996-01-01

The Mars Pathfinder Flight System is in final test, assembly and launch preparations at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch is scheduled for 2 Dec. 1996. The Flight System development, in particular the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) system, was a major team effort involving JPL, other NASA centers and industry. This paper provides a summary Mars Pathfinder description and status at launch. In addition, a section by NASA's Langley Research Center, a key EDL contributor, is provided on their support to Mars Pathfinder. This section is included as an example of the work performed by Pathfinder team members outside JPL.

Sunset in Mars Gale Crater

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-05-08

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover recorded this view of the sun setting at the close of the mission's 956th Martian day, or sol (April 15, 2015), from the rover's location in Gale Crater. This was the first sunset observed in color by Curiosity. The image comes from the left-eye camera of the rover's Mast Camera (Mastcam). The color has been calibrated and white-balanced to remove camera artifacts. Mastcam sees color very similarly to what human eyes see, although it is actually a little less sensitive to blue than people are. Dust in the Martian atmosphere has fine particles that permit blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently than longer-wavelength colors. That causes the blue colors in the mixed light coming from the sun to stay closer to sun's part of the sky, compared to the wider scattering of yellow and red colors. The effect is most pronounced near sunset, when light from the sun passes through a longer path in the atmosphere than it does at mid-day. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed and built the project's Curiosity rover. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19400

Mars Science Laboratory Atlas V First Stage Booster

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-09-07

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden walks around the United Launch Alliance Atlas V first stage booster with United Launch Alliance Vice President of Mission operations Jim Sponnick, NASA Mission Manager for Launch Services Wanda Harding, NASA Senior Advisor Mike French, and White House Fellow Debra Kurshan, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011, at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The booster will help send NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover to Mars later this year. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor Outreach Compilation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1999-09-01

This videotape is a compilation of the best NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) videos of the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor missions. The mission is described using animation and narration as well as some actual footage of the entire sequence of mission events. Included within these animations are the spacecraft orbit insertion; descent to the Mars surface; deployment of the airbags and instruments; and exploration by Sojourner, the Mars rover. JPL activities at spacecraft control during significant mission events are also included at the end. The spacecraft cameras pan the surrounding Mars terrain and film Sojourner traversing the surface and inspecting rocks. A single, brief, processed image of the Cydonia region (Mars face) at an oblique angle from the Mars Global Surveyor is presented. A description of the Mars Pathfinder mission, instruments, landing and deployment process, Mars approach, spacecraft orbit insertion, rover operation are all described using computer animation. Actual color footage of Sojourner as well as a 360 deg pan of the Mars terrain surrounding the spacecraft is provided. Lower quality black and white photography depicting Sojourner traversing the Mars surface and inspecting Martian rocks also is included.

Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor Outreach Compilation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

This videotape is a compilation of the best NASA JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) videos of the Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor missions. The mission is described using animation and narration as well as some actual footage of the entire sequence of mission events. Included within these animations are the spacecraft orbit insertion; descent to the Mars surface; deployment of the airbags and instruments; and exploration by Sojourner, the Mars rover. JPL activities at spacecraft control during significant mission events are also included at the end. The spacecraft cameras pan the surrounding Mars terrain and film Sojourner traversing the surface and inspecting rocks. A single, brief, processed image of the Cydonia region (Mars face) at an oblique angle from the Mars Global Surveyor is presented. A description of the Mars Pathfinder mission, instruments, landing and deployment process, Mars approach, spacecraft orbit insertion, rover operation are all described using computer animation. Actual color footage of Sojourner as well as a 360 deg pan of the Mars terrain surrounding the spacecraft is provided. Lower quality black and white photography depicting Sojourner traversing the Mars surface and inspecting Martian rocks also is included.