MARS EXPLORATOIN ROVER
Throughout the history of the human race, space exploration has always been a point of contention, whether it is the religious perspective or the allocation of funds but one thing that was always consistent was the appeal to broaden and expand our knowledge of the solar system and of space in general.
NASA has been the frontrunner and forefront of the space exploration game globally and has always had their goals set on being the first to achieve many milestones. The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) initiative was one of those monumental milestones, being one of the most successful missions to Mars. The MER consisted of two rovers, the Spirit and Opportunity, both of which surpassed their objectives and the capabilities …show more content…
Characterize the geology of Mars - seeking for and characterizing a diversity of rocks that have clues to past water activity
4. Prepare for human exploration seeking for and characterizing a diversity of rocks that have clues to past water activity and abstracting clues related to the ambient conditions where liquid water has been present and assessing if the circumstances were supportive of life.
The Mission Timeline and Challenges
The mission timeline consists of seven phases, these being pre-launch, launch, cruise, approach, entry, descent and landing, rover egress and surface operations. Although they had set out these specific goals, they knew there would be some significant challenges in which the two rovers would encounter. From the get go there were many logistical concerns, from the launch to the landing were endless variables which could cause the whole mission to fail, the engineers called these “single event upsets”.
1. Pre-launch Activities
2. Launch
3. Cruise – The cruise phase began from after the separation of the third stage of the Delta II launch vehicle, and ends when it is 45 days from entry into the martian atmosphere. The single event upsets for this phase include and range from a stray particle of energy passing through the spacecraft, to a solar flare which could destroy the whole spaceship and the more likely event that a small trajectory error can result in a big detour and or even missing the planet
Throughout the history of the human race, space exploration has always been a point of contention, whether it is the religious perspective or the allocation of funds but one thing that was always consistent was the appeal to broaden and expand our knowledge of the solar system and of space in general.
NASA has been the frontrunner and forefront of the space exploration game globally and has always had their goals set on being the first to achieve many milestones. The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) initiative was one of those monumental milestones, being one of the most successful missions to Mars. The MER consisted of two rovers, the Spirit and Opportunity, both of which surpassed their objectives and the capabilities …show more content…
Characterize the geology of Mars - seeking for and characterizing a diversity of rocks that have clues to past water activity
4. Prepare for human exploration seeking for and characterizing a diversity of rocks that have clues to past water activity and abstracting clues related to the ambient conditions where liquid water has been present and assessing if the circumstances were supportive of life.
The Mission Timeline and Challenges
The mission timeline consists of seven phases, these being pre-launch, launch, cruise, approach, entry, descent and landing, rover egress and surface operations. Although they had set out these specific goals, they knew there would be some significant challenges in which the two rovers would encounter. From the get go there were many logistical concerns, from the launch to the landing were endless variables which could cause the whole mission to fail, the engineers called these “single event upsets”.
1. Pre-launch Activities
2. Launch
3. Cruise – The cruise phase began from after the separation of the third stage of the Delta II launch vehicle, and ends when it is 45 days from entry into the martian atmosphere. The single event upsets for this phase include and range from a stray particle of energy passing through the spacecraft, to a solar flare which could destroy the whole spaceship and the more likely event that a small trajectory error can result in a big detour and or even missing the planet