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Robotic Rockhounds: Twin Mars Rovers to Use High-Tech Tools
Space.com ^ | April 16th, 2003 | Tariq Malik

Posted on 04/16/2003 6:40:44 AM PDT by Sabertooth


Robotic Rockhounds: Twin Mars Rovers to Use High-Tech Tools

By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
posted: 07:00 am ET
16 April 2003

The first geologists on Mars are not going to be humans of flesh and bone, but robot automatons of metal and wheels.

This summer, NASA plans to launch the Mars Exploration Rovers mission (MER), sending a pair of robotic twins into space. If all goes well, the six-wheeled rovers will be rolling around the Red Planet sometime in January 2003.

While there are some similarities to Mars Pathfinder, NASA's 1997 lander that deployed the small Sojourner rover, the MER mission is far from a mere echo of planetary probes gone by. With a total of nine cameras, a sophisticated set of instruments and a human-sized robot arm, each rover will serve as a geologist proxy, seeking out any indications of water -- past or present -- on Mars.

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   Images

An instrument map of one of the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) using an artist's conceptoin of the robot. Credit: NASA/JPL Click to enlarge.


A diagram of the spacecraft that will deliver the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) to the Red Planet. Click to enlarge.


A MER robot meets smaller Sojourner test rover, identical to the Mars machinery that rolled its way across the red planet in 1997.

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   Related Links

Mars Exploration Rover mission homepage


Athena Instrument Site

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"The Pathfinder mission was just what it sounds like, a pathfinder," said Cornell professor Steven Squyres, principal investigator for the rover mission's science payload, during a telephone interview. "It proved the key technology to get to Mars and land."

Getting there with what works

Like Pathfinder, both MER rovers will be delivered to Mars by rocket and use an aeroshell to deflect heat as they punch their way through the Martian atmosphere. A parachute will slow each lander, with the folded-up rover nestled inside, until an airbag envelope inflates and the craft makes a bouncy landing on the Martian surface.

It's a tried and true method of dropping something on Mars.

"[The lander] will basically slam into the Martian atmosphere like a bullet," said Rob Manning, MER manager of Entry, Descent and Landing Operations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Manning also oversees MER systems engineering for the project and served on the 1997 mission as well. "It's entry and descent is based in entirety on its Mars Pathfinder cousin."

But, Manning told SPACE.com, despite their similarities, each MER probe landing procedure does have some advancement over its predecessor, including more motors and gears than Pathfinder ever needed.

Once the airbags deflate and the lander petals open, the rover will unfurl its solar array and raise its mast, as the front two wheels fold out from their stowed position. The MER rover will then abandon its landing shell like a butterfly leaving its chrysalis and begin exploring the Martian surface.

A geologist's proxy

Each MER rover carries the Athena science package, a cluster of scientific instruments that researchers hope will paint a comprehensive climate history on Mars, while looking for signs of water.

"What we tried to do was take everything you'd find in a field geologist's toolkit on Earth and make a robotic field geologist for Mars," Squyres said.

Sitting atop the rover mast is Pancam, the most powerful color imaging system ever to land on another world. The camera system will return high-definition views of Mars, and serve as the surveying tool for MER researchers in deciding where to send the robot. A filter wheel on each of Pancam's two cameras allows observations in multiple spectrums. Next to Pancam on the mast is the Miniature Thermal Emissions Spectrometer (Mini-TES), the first of three infrared spectrometers aboard each rover that will work in tandem with the Pancam to determine suitable target rocks and soil for study.

Reach out and touch rock bottom

Each rover also has an arm similar in size and movement to that of a human adult, with three flexible joints and a cluster of instruments at the end. Among them are the Mössbauer and Alpha X-Ray spectrometers, which will look for iron-bearing formations that could have been shaped by once-running water and determine their mineral composition, respectively.

Also at on the tip of the arm is the tiny Microscopic Imager (MI), a combination between a microscope and black-and-white CCD camera that will provide detailed images of some of Mars' tiniest features.

"The Mössbauer and the MI are instruments so different than anything we've ever sent to Mars," Squyres said. "We're going to try and put that arm into action rather quickly."

To peek deeper into the Red Planet's geologic past, each MER robot is equipped with a Rock Abrasion Tool -- or RAT -- capable of grinding a hole 2 inches (45 millimeters) wide and 5 millimeters deep into any rock within reach. By scraping away even millimeters of the rock's surface, researchers can use other instruments to study material undisturbed by the harsh Martian weather.

Finally, an array of magnets built into the rover's deck, arm and undercarriage will attract Martian dust and other small particles that could provide freeze-dried evidence of water.

But MER researchers stressed that the Athena package works best as an ensemble, with no one instrument dominating the pack. "I love all my children equally," Squyres said of the MER instruments.

Roving about Mars

The MER rovers are not quick robots. While scientists expect them to traverse 330 feet (100 kilometers) each of their 90 days on Mars, they typically move about 2 inches (5 centimeters) per second. The limitation is set not so much by the rotation speed of its wheels as by the amount of data each robot must analyze before making a move.

A pair of navigation cameras sit up top on the robot's mast, while four hazard cameras, two front and two aft, consistently record images of the terrain around each rover. Each time a MER robot moves, the hazard cameras take more images, feed them into the onboard computer which analyzes them to decide whether an obstacle can be surmounted or avoided. If it gets in a real jam, then it phone's home for instructions. Both rovers will be in contact with Earth via NASA's Deep Space Network and be able to relay data through the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, currently in orbit around the planet.

"The rule is, 'Don't go over anything larger than your wheel,'" Squyres said. The wheels on each of the 400-pound (180-kilogram) rovers stand about 10 inches (25 centimeters) tall.

But MER scientists will also be able to tailor the hazard level up or down depending on Martian terrain each robot faces. "So if we land in a parking lot, and think the terrain is relatively safe, then we'll give the rover a longer leash," Manning said, adding that rover controllers can also set waypoints for each MER robot to pause and reevaluate its surroundings before moving on.

Manning added that the challenge is to get the most science out of each day on Mars. The MER robots will typically be in "sleep" mode for up to 18 hours each Martian night, but some experiments will be conducted in darkness. After 90 days, researchers expect dust build-up on the MER solar arrays to impact the rover's power supply and ability to conduct experiments.

First you have to get there

The original launch date for the first MER mission, MER-A, was set for May 30. But this week NASA rescheduled the launch for no earlier than June 6, after a problem was detected with the cables that connect the rover's main computer with the cruise stage that will ferry it to Mars. Engineers will have to make the necessary adjustments before MER-A can launch, though the setback should not affect the second rover mission expected to liftoff between June 25 and July 15.

"Right now we just want to make sure we have everything worked out, and there's some cushion built into our [launch] schedule," Manning said. "But it's going to be an exciting mission once we get there. "








A MER robot meets smaller Sojourner test rover, identical to the
Mars machinery that rolled its way across the red planet in 1997.




TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: crevolist; mars; marsrover
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To: js1138
Mars Orbiter bump.
21 posted on 04/16/2003 8:23:49 AM PDT by AndrewC
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To: Doctor Stochastic
Note to NASA: 1 inch = 2.54 centimetres exactly. Other things scale from there. ... 1 mile = 1.609344 kilometres exactly.

Hey, Doctor S., I'm no Einstein. Maybe I'm wrong but, it seems to me that the latter equation is only true if 1 inch = 2.540000 cm.

So, is it? ;-)

22 posted on 04/16/2003 8:26:57 AM PDT by newgeezer (Just my opinion, of course. Your mileage may vary. You have the right to be wrong.)
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To: Sabertooth
Well, if it already got there, why isn't it broadcasting? More tile trouble?
23 posted on 04/16/2003 8:29:24 AM PDT by js1138
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To: Sabertooth
Update

Mars Rover Launch Delayed to Fix Problem
Tue Apr 15, 3:40 PM ET
Add Science - AP to My Yahoo!

By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA (news - web sites) has delayed this summer's launch date for the first of two Mars rovers after discovering they were vulnerable to short circuits that could have doomed them.

 


NASA must partially disassemble both rovers to fix the problem, delaying launch of the first from Cape Canaveral, Fla., by eight days, to no earlier than June 6. The second rover is expected to be launched between June 25 and July 15 as scheduled.



The robots have electrical connections to the spacecraft carrying them to Mars. Recent testing revealed a guillotine-like device designed to sever the cables could produce a short circuit that might affect circuit boards inside the rover, NASA said.



Project manager Peter Theisinger said such a short could cause the rovers to lose the radar data they require to determine their position and velocity during descent to the surface of Mars, expected in January 2004.
/font>

At least they seem to be catching the problems before it is too late to fix them.

24 posted on 04/16/2003 8:33:28 AM PDT by AndrewC
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To: Sabertooth

25 posted on 04/16/2003 8:36:20 AM PDT by AndrewC
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To: js1138
Well, if it already got there, why isn't it broadcasting?

The signal has to come back through the wormhole. It's a kaon "phase-shift" thing. Don't you watch Star Trek?




26 posted on 04/16/2003 8:39:47 AM PDT by Sabertooth
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To: AndrewC
Very cool. They should call the pancam Linda Blair.



27 posted on 04/16/2003 8:43:26 AM PDT by Sabertooth
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To: Sabertooth
The signal has to come back through the wormhole. It's a kaon "phase-shift" thing.

Mars sure looks like Earth.(See post #25)

28 posted on 04/16/2003 8:44:37 AM PDT by AndrewC
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To: newgeezer
Yes.
29 posted on 04/16/2003 9:31:56 AM PDT by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: biblewonk
Manned space programs: What a total waste of money!

Hard to say, since there aren't any manned space programs.


Apollo, maybe, but that was a long time ago. The ISS and the Space Shuttle don't count, they don't make it to real space, they don't escape earth's gravity well or the atmosphere. Above the von Karman limit, but not true space. In fact the ISS needs to be reboosted frequently or it will re-enter the atmosphere almost immediately and burn up like Mir or Columbia.

There are no manned space programs. The point is moot.

30 posted on 04/16/2003 9:33:46 AM PDT by RightWhale (Theorems link concepts; proofs establish links)
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To: CheneyChick; vikingchick; Victoria Delsoul; WIMom; one_particular_harbour; kmiller1k; mhking; ...
((((((growl)))))



31 posted on 04/16/2003 9:35:42 AM PDT by Sabertooth
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To: Sabertooth
38% of all Mars missions have any degree of success at all, ioncluding those that transmitted one beep of data. The rest transmitted nothing at all. 62% failed completely.

Viking 1 and Viking 2 did a little geology, so it is hard to visualize these new probes as the first ground geology probes.

32 posted on 04/16/2003 9:40:05 AM PDT by RightWhale (Theorems link concepts; proofs establish links)
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To: RightWhale
they don't escape earth's gravity well or the atmosphere

Escape earths gravity well? That's a good one. How deep is earth's gravity well?

33 posted on 04/16/2003 9:52:37 AM PDT by biblewonk (Spose to be a Chrissssstian)
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To: biblewonk
If you make it to the moon you have escaped 99% of earth's gravity well. If you make it to Mars, you have completely escaped earth's gravity well. If you make it to low earth orbit, you have escaped 70% of earth's gravity well.

Thus, going to Mars would be true space travel. Going to the moon amounts to the same thing in total with all the delta-vees by the time you achieve lunar orbit. ISS is not true space travel, it's only 70%. The X-Prize requires only 20% escape from earth's gravity well and is not even a cousin to true space travel.

34 posted on 04/16/2003 9:59:42 AM PDT by RightWhale (Theorems link concepts; proofs establish links)
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To: RightWhale
Gotta give the Martians an A for effort. They're still working out the bugs in their surface-to-air stuff!
35 posted on 04/16/2003 10:00:17 AM PDT by djf
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To: Sabertooth
. . . the six-wheeled rovers will be rolling around the Red Planet sometime in January 2003.

In other news, NASA unveiled its new design for the next-generation space shuttle:


36 posted on 04/16/2003 10:26:40 AM PDT by RansomOttawa (tm)
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To: RightWhale
From the last manned mission to Mars:


37 posted on 04/16/2003 10:33:41 AM PDT by PatrickHenry (Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.)
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To: PatrickHenry
Has anyone seen one of those?
38 posted on 04/16/2003 12:17:49 PM PDT by CJ Wolf
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To: hang 'em
I think it's just you. We invented Time Travel back in 2030.
39 posted on 04/16/2003 12:21:36 PM PDT by CJ Wolf
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To: Sabertooth
well,nasa is in a hurry doing some rewiring,something is not ready before launch!
40 posted on 04/16/2003 12:29:49 PM PDT by green team 1999
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