• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Mars Exploration 1: Unmanned Missions (Probes; Rovers; etc.)

I work across the road from the Rutherford. You should have heard the huge collective sigh of relief last night . (Better than the stunned whimpering after the SOHO launch failure)
 
Papa Lazarou said:
I bet when they get it there they'll find a MacDonalds....
Click to expand...

So no intelligent life then...but plenty of micro-organisms.

I hope this one works...
 
So far, so good:
As of June 6, Mars Express passed the 620,000-mile (one million-kilometer) mark in distance away from Earth on its journey towards the Red Planet.

On June 5 the European Space Agency's spacecraft successfully released the clamps that held the Beagle 2 lander tight to the Mars Express orbiter during blastoff from Earth.

The clamps were necessary to ensure the lander remained perfectly fixed to its mother spacecraft - despite all the rumble, roar and vibration as the attached payloads shot skyward atop the Russian Soyuz/Fregat booster.

After the launch, the clamps are no longer needed. Another mechanism keeps Beagle 2 firmly in place during the six-month, outbound voyage to the Red Planet. However, if the launch clamps had not released, a second mechanism would have failed. That second piece of hardware pushes Beagle 2 away from Mars Express as it closes in on the target planet.

It was tense times for Mars Express ground controllers at the European Space Operations Center (ESOC), in Germany. The release of the launch clamps started at 4:10 a.m. EDT (10.10 CEST) and lasted about 30 minutes. The release mechanism itself is unusual. Usually, launch clamps contain a firework-like mechanism, but Mars Express had a much gentler release mechanism for Beagle.

The release clamps required a systematic step-by-step procedure that lasted about one-half hour. An electric current is utilized to expand a sleeve that, in turn, breaks the grip of three bolts, one by one.

"The atmosphere in the room was tense and those two minutes seemed to last an eternity! When the first bolt went, a lot of tension was released," said Con McCarthy. ESA Lander Manager.

The Mars Express mission lifted off from Baïkonur in Kazakhstan on June 2. An interim orbit around the Earth was reached following a first firing of the Fregat upper stage. One hour thirty-two minutes after blastoff, the spacecraft was injected into its interplanetary orbit.

The spacecraft has completed the first of several trajectory correction maneuvers.

Mars Express has also successfully switched from the low-gain antenna to the high-gain antenna for communication with mission control at the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Germany.

The high gain antenna is a circular dish attached to one face of the spacecraft body and is nearly 6-feet (1.8 meters) in diameter. It is used for receiving and transmitting radio signals when the spacecraft is a long way from Earth.

More hurdles are ahead, note ESA officials. But Mars Express/Beagle 2 appears to be in good shape at present for the long haul to Mars.
Click to expand...
Story with pics and links - http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/express_clamps_030605.html

The first American probe, Mer-A, should launch tomorrow. (In about 32 hours from now.)

Also: A year's worth of observations by NASA's Odyssey spacecraft paint a new picture of a more dynamic Martian surface than expected, coupled with what seems to be a changing environment.
 
AndroMan said:
Let's see, how's the US space programme doing at the moment?
Click to expand...

It's smushed. Let's hope this mission marks a new stage in ours. So long as we get past the Great Galactic Ghoul, we'll be fine.
 
If you have nothing better to do, you can watch the Mer-A countdown clock here! :D

Plenty of links to read while you wait too.

Lift-off around 1900 BST if all goes well.
 
OK, excitement over -

the launch has been postponed till tomorrow because of thunderstorms in the area. :(
 
And again - Launch postponed till Tuesday.

Mer-A and B have now been named 'Spirit' and 'Opportunity'.
 
T minus 6 and counting...

I've been trying to watch the video link, but I can't get a connection... :mad:

Perhaps C4 News will show some pics soon...

Well, the webpage countdown finished! Let's hope Spirit got away OK.

EDIT: Yep, launch succesful -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2968856.stm
 
And let's not forget the Japanese probe Nozomi (Hope), launched in 1998, and still going... well, not going strong, but still going! Should arrive at Mars with the others, give or take a few days.
 
Ryn, can you explain why that one is so much slower, is it taking a more circuitous route ?
 
rynner said:
Should arrive at Mars with the others, give or take a few days.
Click to expand...

You can imagine the scene when they arrive...
 
p.younger said:
Ryn, can you explain why that one is so much slower, is it taking a more circuitous route ?
Click to expand...
It was explained in the link:
Nozomi's troubles began in December 1998 during an Earth fly-by that was to send the craft onto a trajectory to arrive at Mars in October 1999.

The spacecraft's thrusters were to fire to assist in the swing-by, but a stuck valve and subsequent maneuvers left Nozomi with too little propellant to properly inject itself into orbit around Mars at the scheduled arrival time.

The Nozomi team was forced to develop an alternate trajectory that met both fuel and scientific constraints. Using two more Earth fly-by's, the new path will see the craft get to Mars at about year's end.

The first close approach to Earth was successful last December, while the final gravity-assist maneuver is scheduled for June 19 as Nozomi flies by Earth for the final time.
Click to expand...
This gravity-assist is often called a slingshot manoeuvre, where an exchange of momentum takes place between planet and spacecraft - the spacecraft speeds up, while the Earth slows down (but by an amount wa-a-a-a-y too small to measure).
 
rynner said:
This gravity-assist is often called a slingshot manoeuvre, where an exchange of momentum takes place between planet and spacecraft - the spacecraft speeds up, while the Earth slows down (but by an amount wa-a-a-a-y too small to measure).
Click to expand...
This should not be confused with a "slingshot round the Sun" which causes warp drive ships to travel backwards (or forwards) in time. ;)
 
Fortis said:
This should not be confused with a "slingshot round the Sun" which causes warp drive ships to travel backwards (or forwards) in time. ;)
Click to expand...
Actually, to travel through time a warp drive ship would only need to reorientate itself within it's drive field; but I wander off topic...
 
rynner said:
And again - Launch postponed till Tuesday.

Mer-A and B have now been named 'Spirit' and 'Opportunity'.
Click to expand...

Bleurgh! Sickly, over dramatic names...:cross eye
 
mars probe story
A Japanese space craft is making a close approach to the Earth as it attempts to gather speed for its journey to Mars.

The probe, Nozomi, which means hope in Japanese, was damaged by a solar flare soon after launch and may not reach its destination.

Its heating system is not working and must be fixed somehow to stop the space craft missing Mars and getting lost in space.

Dr Yasunori Matogawa, director of Japan's Kagoshima Space Centre, told BBC News Online: "I think there is a 50% chance of succeeding in mending the Nozomi space craft based on the information I have at the moment."

Mars jinx

The probe is already five years behind schedule and is low on fuel. It has been beset with problems since it was licked by an explosion of energy from the Sun.

The solar flare damaged the space craft's onboard communications and power systems.

The altitude control heating system is no longer working which will pose a particular problem when Nozomi moves further from the Sun.

Its fuel could freeze and it would be unable to fire its onboard thrusters to go into orbit around Mars.

"They're in big trouble," said Dr David Williams of the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, MD.

"If the heating system doesn't work, it will shoot past Mars. They've got to get it working whatever."
Click to expand...
 
Mars lander Beagle 2 to boot up


13:49 18 June 03

NewScientist.com news service

Britain's Mars lander Beagle 2, currently speeding towards the Red Planet, will be activated on Friday for the first time since its launch.

"This will tell us whether we survived launch," says Jim Clemmet, engineering manager for Beagle 2 at prime contractors Astrium. "It is also one of the few occasions [during the voyage] when we'll be able to check that it's healthy."

The robotic probe blasted off on a six-month journey to Mars on 2 June, incorporated into the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft. Mars Express will orbit the planet, while Beagle 2 examines the surface for evidence of life.

The first communication signals will be sent to Beagle 2 at about 1730 GMT on Friday, from the main radio post at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. These commands will boot-up the probe's on-board computer systems, which should then send replies to confirm that the communications link is functioning properly.

Further commands will test whether the electronic that control Beagle 2's instruments are working, although the instruments themselves will not be switched on until the probe lands on 25 December.

On-board temperature sensors will also be used to ensure that the systems are not overheating. Mars Express will be in range of ESOC for 12 hours and eight of these have been allocated to communications with Beagle 2.


Trajectory adjustment


Only a handful of communications with the probe are scheduled before it arrives at Mars. Engineers may use these periods to upload new software that will subtly adjust the probe's procedure for detaching from Mars Express and its landing trajectory.

"The descent sequence uses a lot of parameters and those can be dependent on the final trajectory Mars Express puts us on," Clemmet told New Scientist.

If all goes well, Beagle 2 will be joined on the surface in January 2004 by NASA's twin Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Spirit blasted off from Florida on 10 June, two days late. The delay has now knocked back the launch of Opportunity to 26 June.


Battered and delayed

Another Mars-bound spacecraft is, like Beagle 2, about to face a crucial test. On Thursday, Japan's battered and long-delayed Nozomi orbiter will attempt its final sling-shot manoeuvre around the Earth to send it towards Mars

Nozomi, meaning hope, was meant to arrive at Mars in 1998. But its first Earth sling-shot went wrong, forcing operators to use up more fuel than planned. And in April 2002 solar flares damaged the craft's heating system and some of its communications units.

"We are doing everything we can, but we don't know whether we will be able to succeed," says Osamu Shimamoto, of the Japanese government's Space Policy Division. "We are praying this swingby will work," he told Associated Press.

Even if Nozomi does reaches at Mars at the end of 2003, it is far from certain that the craft is in a fit state to guide itself into orbit.
Click to expand...
New scientist
 
The first anomaly

Looks like Mars Express has suffered its first anomaly. Hopefully it shouldn't be significant, but you don't want your spacecraft doing things that you don't understand...

Unexpected message delays Beagle 2 boot-up


15:25 20 June 03

NewScientist.com news service

First contact with the UK's Beagle 2 Mars lander, which set off for the Red Planet on 2 June, has been delayed by a week. The postponement is required to allow engineers time to decipher an unexpected message from an instrument on Beagle's mother ship, Mars Express.

Engineers had planned to boot-up and test Beagle 2's on-board computer systems on Friday. This would show how well the lander's electronics survived the rough and tumble of lift-off.

But a message received from a scientific instrument aboard Mars Express has put the checkout on hold, Mars Express project manager Rudy Schmidt told News Scientist.

Mission controllers at the European Space Agency's Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, sent activation commands to the instrument earlier this week but received a reply that they were not anticipating. They now want to consult with the manufacturer of the instrument before pressing on with its configuration.


Slow and careful


Schmidt says this is relatively routine and no cause for concern. "We always take things very carefully," he told New Scientist. "When we see something we do not immediately understand we ask the supplier of the box for an explanation - then we know how to proceed."

Contacting the makers of the instrument, which Schmidt did not name, has been complicated by public holidays in Germany.

Going ahead with the activation of Beagle 2 before understanding the message from the Mars Express instrument could risk the checkout being interrupted. "Beagle2 has a very funny way of transporting the data and we have to be absolutely sure that everything works from beginning to end," says Schmidt.

Expect the unexpected

Max Meerman, an engineer at UK spacecraft manufacturer Surrey Satellites, says it is not unusual to receive a puzzling message from a new spacecraft early in its mission, even if you have fully tested all the communication procedures on the ground beforehand.

"When you launch there is always something different," he told New Scientist. "Instruments are built, integrated into bigger units, put into the satellite by someone and then operated by a whole different group of people." The large number of people involved with Mars Express would make the situation especially complicated, he adds.

The spacecraft is not due to arrive at Mars until December, notes Meerman, which explains ESOC's slow approach. "Because they have so much time, they're going to be very careful if anything is not correct."

Mars Express and Beagle 2 should separate on 19 December, with Mars Express entering orbit and the lander heading down for a 25 December touchdown. Together, the spacecraft aim to conduct a top-to-bottom survey of Mars to determine whether the planet was once awash with water and, perhaps, life.


Will Knight
Click to expand...

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993857
 
When they say "signs of life", do you suppose they could be thinking of fossil fuels -- after all, they would be a "sign of life". Is that why all the usual suspects are tripping over each other getting there?

I'm still glad they're going. Better that funds are being spent going to Mars than on war.

I can't wait for the day when we will be able to leave the solar system. I think it could happen in the next few hundred years (if we don't manage to crumble our civilization in the meantime).
 
SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2003

DELAY. Officials have delayed the launch of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover "Opportunity" so workers can replace insulation of the Boeing Delta 2 rocket that will propel the spacecraft to the Red Planet.

The launch from pad 17B at Cape Canaveral has been scheduled for early Thursday, June 26. But the unplanned job of removing and replacing a band of protective cork insulation on the rocket's first stage will delay the liftoff until Saturday evening, June 28.

The available launch times are 11:56:16 p.m. EDT and 12:37:59 a.m. EDT (0356:16 and 0437:59 GMT on the 29th)

"The Flight Readiness Review was held today for the MER-B launch of the "Opportunity" Mars Exploration Rover. Afterward, a decision was made to postpone the launch by at least a couple of days," NASA said in a statement.

"Based on routine post-test inspections, the launch team has elected to remove and replace a band of protective cork insulation on the Delta first stage. The location is below the forward attach points of the strap-on solid rocket boosters. Inspections of a second band located higher on the first stage are being performed.

"The time necessary to do this work means a rescheduling of the launch to no earlier than Saturday, June 28 at 11:56:16 p.m. EDT. A firm date will be established on Monday after the engineering team reconvenes."
Click to expand...
Cork? CORK! I'd have expected some sooper-dooper high-tech state-of-the-art man-made insulation, costing about a thousand times as much as mere cork. (Thinking of the high-tech space pens v. pencils from the moon mission era.)

But times are hard and economies have to be made. I guess cork is getting cheaper, now it's falling out of favour for stopping wine bottles. :)

Meanwhile:
Mars-bound Spirit rover adjusts trajectory
NASA/JPL STATUS REPORT
Posted: June 20, 2003

NASA's Spirit spacecraft, the first of twin Mars Exploration Rovers, performed its first trajectory correction maneuver today.

Following commands from the Mars Exploration Rover flight team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., the spacecraft first performed a calibration and check of its eight thrusters, then fired the thrusters to fine-tune its flight path toward Mars.

The main burn had two components. Thrusters that accelerate the rotating spacecraft along the direction of the rotation axis burned steadily for about 28 minutes. Then, thrusters that accelerate the spacecraft in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis fired in pulses timed to the spacecraft's rotation rate -- with 264 pulses totaling about 22 minutes of burn time. The total maneuver increased Spirit's speed by 14.3 meters per second (32 miles per hour).

At the end of the trajectory correction, Spirit performed an attitude turn that adjusted its orientation in space to maintain the optimal combination of facing its solar array toward the Sun and pointing its low-gain antenna toward Earth. The spacecraft's next trajectory correction maneuver is scheduled for Aug. 1 and its next attitude turn for July 22.

All systems on the spacecraft are in good health. As of today at 6 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Spirit had traveled 27,390,000 kilometers (17,020,000 miles) since launch on June 10, and was at a distance of 2,660,000 kilometers (1,653,000 miles) from Earth. It was traveling at a speed of 32.22 kilometers per second (72,100 miles per hour) relative to the Sun. Spirit will arrive at Mars on Jan. 4, 2004, Universal Time (evening of Jan. 3, 2004, Eastern and Pacific times). The rover will examine its landing area in Mars' Gusev Crater for geological evidence about the history of water on Mars.
Click to expand...
 
phgnome said:
I'm still glad they're going. Better that funds are being spent going to Mars than on war.
Click to expand...

Might be the same thing, given time.
 
That would be ironic, wouldn't it?

Or maybe the opposite of ironic. Not "fitting", more sort of Planetary Nominative Determinism.
 
anome said:
That would be ironic, wouldn't it?

Or maybe the opposite of ironic. Not "fitting", more sort of Planetary Nominative Determinism.
Click to expand...

I'm off to Venus, I may be some time.
 
rynner said:
As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted :D

The increasing popularity of plastic wine bottle stoppers is threatening the unique cork forests of Portugal Apparently 80% of the world's cork comes from Portugal and Spain.

So perhaps NASA is trying to help preserve the forests.
Which is nice! :)
Click to expand...
I thought what had already done for most cork forests was the trend for platform shoes in the 70s.

And surely, if demand for cork falls, then the cork trees themselves are under less threat. Unless, they're going to chop them all down and build a plastic factory to make the new ones.
 
Cork is a renewable crop - the bark can be harvested from a tree every 9 years. But if demand for cork falls, the farmers would have to make a living some other way, probably cutting down their trees to grow something else. (See the article.)


Anyhow, this is getting a bit off-thread. Let's leave it now (unless anyone really wants to start a new thread on it!)
 
(I did read the article, but didn't get to that bit until after I'd posted the above. And basically, that is what they're doing. Clearly this issue is much bigger than merely being a footnote on this thread, but possibly later.)

Back to the issue of wooden spaceships, or more accurately, the use of wood as an insualtor in spacecraft, the Chinese spent some time working with wooden heat shields for re-entry vehicles. And had some success with them in testing, I believe.

Wood has a number of advantages - it's cheap, light, and not especially conductive. It's major disadvantage is that, for most uses, it's a one-shot. The heat of re-entry, for example, tends to burn it off (which is how it protects the vehicle).

I'm not entirely sure what the cork in the Delta is being used for, but the use of cork is probably more cost-effective than most other substances.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top