Mars Exploration Rover Mission

JPL ^ | 1-3-04 | JPL

[bonesmccoy]

Mission Timeline: Entry, Descent, and Landing

The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) phase begins when the spacecraft reaches the Mars atmospheric entry interface point (3522.2 kilometers or about 2,113 miles from the center of Mars) and ends with the lander on the surface of Mars in a safe state.

The rovers will arrive during the latter half of the northern winter/southern summer on Mars. Rover A will land at approximately 2:00 p.m. local time on Mars (with Earth set an hour after landing), whereas Rover B will land at around 1:15 p.m. local time on Mars (with Earth set as long as two-and-a-half hours after landing). That means that both rovers will land in the Martian afternoon while the Earth is still in view, allowing the Earth to receive the landing signal if the lander is on the base petal.

Entry, descent, and landing for the Mars Exploration Rover mission is an adaptation of the Mars Pathfinder method:

An aeroshell and a parachute decelerate the lander through the Martian atmosphere.

Prior to surface impact, retro-rockets are fired to slow the lander´s speed of descent, and airbags are inflated to cushion the lander at surface impact.

After its initial impact, the lander bounces along the Martian surface until it rolls to a stop.

The airbags are then deflated and retracted, and the lander petals and rover egress aids are deployed.

Once the petals have opened, the rover deploys its solar arrays, and places the system in a safe state. Communications during entry, descent, and landing will occur through a pair of low-gain antennas, one mounted on the backshell and the other on the rover itself. About 36 ten-second radio tones will be transmitted to Earth during descent through the atmosphere, which takes approximately six minutes. These tones are coded to indicate the accomplishment of critical steps in the entry, descent,and landing timeline. [More on these tones in the communications section]

A step-by-step guide to everything that will happen will be provided prior to entry, descent, and landing.

[clearvision]

First color shot:

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040106colorimage.html

[clearvision]

Close up view:

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040106colorimage2.html

[RightWhale]

Wow! Red rocks.

[RightWhale]

Looks like smoothed and polished basalt.

[labowski]

"The scene reminds me from the old film "Vanishing Point" (1971) where Barry Newman drove a 1970 Dodge Challenger through the desert. B-)"

"And today in a beautiful gesture made by beautiful people, in beautiful downtown Goldfield, this radio station was named Kowalski, in honor of the last American hero, to whom speed means freedom of the soul. The question is not when he's going to stop, but who is going to stop him."

p.s. Looks like Vanishing Point will be released on DVD Feb. 3 : )

[clearvision]

Close up of soil disturbed by airbag retraction:

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040106colorimage4.html

[djf]

Right near Shasta in northern California, there is a volcanic vent called "Black Butte". From a distance, it appears dark. But I stopped there and examined the rocks real close, and they have a red/pink/orange tone to them. In truth, they look almost exactly like the photos, and they are volcanic in origin.

[RightWhale]

It does look like lava or maybe it's what rock formed by melting due to asteroidal impact looks like.

[Rebelbase]

I used to be able to stereoscope using my eyes only. Maybe thats why I wear glases now.

[clearvision]

Here is >8MB "original" photo:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040106a/PIA04995.jpg

[Momaw Nadon]

[Momaw Nadon]

[Momaw Nadon]

[Momaw Nadon]

[Steve Van Doorn]

WOW thanks!

[djf]

Yup. And the porosity matches almost exactly the Rainier and Shasta pyroclastics. Does the rover have an arm? Can it turn over a rock? Anybody know?

[myself6]

Place marker for stereo pictures

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Nice pictures!

[GeronL]

but this moon that theoretically hit Mars after being broken up by a comet or something, maybe there weren't any big pieces left? Maybe the large peices were thrown out of the gravity well and became stray meteors and comets themselves? Maybe there are dozens of craters that were formed at the same time from the debris? Why in the southern sector?? Because.. thats where this moon was orbiting... in the southern hemisphere...?

[RightWhale]

These smoothed rocks appear to by sitting on top of the dust.