Curiosity Boldly Approaches Critical Mars Landing

Planetary exploration aims to take another giant step for mankind. This Sunday, August 5th at 10:31 pm, Mars rover Curiosity will attempt the most ambitious landing in the storied history of unmanned space exploration.

 

The Los Angeles Times recently said; “Curiosity’s science could captivate the public like no other space mission in recent memory.”

 

Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), undoubtedly the world’s preeminent space agency, is directing this NASA mission.

 

The road to Mars is littered with failed missions — less than half achieved even partial success. Two-thirds of all non-U.S. missions failed. And of 9 attempted landings, only 1 survived and that one lasted only 15 seconds once on the surface. Of the non-U.S. missions, 19 were attempted by Russia/USSR, two by the European Space Agency, and one each by Japan and the U.K.

 

The U.S. has attempted about half of the total Mars missions (25), and has been much more successful, with two-thirds of missions succeeding. The U.S. has attempted seven landings, of which six were successful. That stellar track record is about to meet its greatest challenge.

 

Curiosity will push the envelope far beyond what has been dared before, particularly in its Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) technologies. This highly complex six-stage sequence has zero room for error.

 

As Curiosity first enters Mars’ thin atmosphere, 80 miles above the surface, a blast shield converts the vehicle’s kinetic energy into heat, reducing its speed from 13,000 mph to 1000 mph, while small, rear-facing rockets maintain the proper trajectory.

 

Next, a Parachute Descent drops the speed to 200 mph, while the blast shield is jettisoned to allow automated guidance using radar imaging of the landing site. This is followed by a Powered Descent sequence; the parachute is jettisoned and the vehicle must swerve sharply to one side to get away from the falling parachute.

 

Powered Descent stops the vehicle at 66 feet above the surface to avoid kicking up dust that might damage Curiosity’s precise instruments. Then a Sky Crane lowers the lander on 25-foot long nylon ropes, as the descent stage slowly approaches the surface.

 

When touchdown is detected, blades cut the nylon lines and the descent stage rockets off to avoid falling on top of Curiosity.

 

The EDL sequence must ensure that Curiosity lands within a 12 mile-wide circle inside Gale Crater.

 

 

The entire landing will take 7 minutes, which NASA dubbed “Seven Minutes of Terror.” But because Mars will be 154 million miles from Earth, it will take 14 minutes for us to receive the signal that Curiosity landed safely.

 

Curiosity is designed to assess whether Mars is, or ever was, habitable for microbes. It carries the largest payload (2000 pounds) and most advanced instruments ever launched. The rover will scoop up soil and drill through rocks to determine Mars’ environment over geological time scales (as long as 4 billion years) and search for hints of organic compounds and elements essential to life. Curiosity will also measure solar and galactic radiation levels on Mars’ surface.

 

Curiosity is powered by the heat of decaying radioactive plutonium, which is expected to provide high power levels, day and night, for much longer than Curiosity’s mission duration of 700 Earth days or one Martian year.

 

Congratulations to all the wonderful scientists and engineers who have devoted years of blood, sweat and tears to this bold endeavor.

 


Curiosity being lowered on Sky Crane by descent stage

 

Best Regards,

Robert

August 3, 2012

 

Note: Previous newsletters can be found on my website.

 

Dr. Robert Piccioni

www.guidetothecosmos.com
Author of "Everyone's Guide to Atoms, Einstein, and the Universe",
"Can Life Be Merely An Accident?"
& "A World Without Einstein"