Kimberly Lum
1328600
ESS 102 AK
Research Paper: Robotic Missions
Synopsis:
My sci-fi paper will detail a futuristic mission to Mars, several decades in the future. Previous rover missions have paved the way for a colony on Mars, and a human crew has at last been sent to the red planet to finish preparations for the settlement. Logistics such as rocket propulsion, humans in space, and robot-human missions will be included, as well as details concerning setting up a colony on Mars.
Robot in Space: The Pathfinder Mission:
Robotic missions have always been essential to space travel. Robots have fewer needs than humans, and handle radiation and reduced gravity well. They also act as scouts, returning valuable information from far away solar bodies …show more content…
It consisted of a lander, Pathfinder, and a small rover, Sojourner, contained inside the lander. In addition to the aforementioned primary goal, Sojourner was able to deliver a large amount of data and outlive its projected lifespan of seven days by 12 times (“Mars Pathfinder”). At the time of its launch, the Pathfinder contained nine solid rocket boosters and a Star 48 rocket motor. These boosters were widely used at the time, as was the rocket motor (Van Riper). Once it arrived at Mars, instead of using rockets to slow its descent into the planet’s thin atmosphere, Pathfinder used a parachute and a large system of airbags to cushion the impact. Then, three “petals” – metallic, triangular solar panels – opened up and released Sojourner. Also, the lander immediately relayed to the team on Earth the atmospheric and engineering data it collected on the way through the atmosphere (“Mars Pathfinder”). It would continue to support the rover and collect data, and relay information back to Earth. It had antennas and a camera for data collection, and an on-board computer with 4 megabytes of RAM and 64 megabytes of memory for image storage (“Mars
1328600
ESS 102 AK
Research Paper: Robotic Missions
Synopsis:
My sci-fi paper will detail a futuristic mission to Mars, several decades in the future. Previous rover missions have paved the way for a colony on Mars, and a human crew has at last been sent to the red planet to finish preparations for the settlement. Logistics such as rocket propulsion, humans in space, and robot-human missions will be included, as well as details concerning setting up a colony on Mars.
Robot in Space: The Pathfinder Mission:
Robotic missions have always been essential to space travel. Robots have fewer needs than humans, and handle radiation and reduced gravity well. They also act as scouts, returning valuable information from far away solar bodies …show more content…
It consisted of a lander, Pathfinder, and a small rover, Sojourner, contained inside the lander. In addition to the aforementioned primary goal, Sojourner was able to deliver a large amount of data and outlive its projected lifespan of seven days by 12 times (“Mars Pathfinder”). At the time of its launch, the Pathfinder contained nine solid rocket boosters and a Star 48 rocket motor. These boosters were widely used at the time, as was the rocket motor (Van Riper). Once it arrived at Mars, instead of using rockets to slow its descent into the planet’s thin atmosphere, Pathfinder used a parachute and a large system of airbags to cushion the impact. Then, three “petals” – metallic, triangular solar panels – opened up and released Sojourner. Also, the lander immediately relayed to the team on Earth the atmospheric and engineering data it collected on the way through the atmosphere (“Mars Pathfinder”). It would continue to support the rover and collect data, and relay information back to Earth. It had antennas and a camera for data collection, and an on-board computer with 4 megabytes of RAM and 64 megabytes of memory for image storage (“Mars