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TO SPACE Newsletter www.pacificspacecenter.com August 2020 - Issue 8 Volume 8 NASA’s Perseverance Rover Begins Letter from the Director Journey to Seek Out Life on

Rodrigo Romo

Aloha kākou, espite a pandemic that continues Dto cause serious damage to human health, lives and economies across the Above: NASA’s he most advanced planetary rover ever built world, July was quite a month for Aero- Perseverance T is on its way to Mars. NASA’s Perseverance space milestones. On July 19, the Unit- Mars rover ed Arab Emirates launched from launches aboard rover successfully lifted off from Cape Canav- a ULA Atlas V eral Air Force Station in Florida atop a United the “Amal” (Hope) space probe to Mars on July 30 Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket on July aboard a H-IIA rocket. Just days later on from Cape Ca- 30 along with its sidekick Ingenuity, a prototype July 22, China launched its first rover to naveral Air Force Mars helicopter. Mars. If their mission goes as planned, Station in Florida. Credit: United Perseverance has a big mission ahead: col- China will have a solar-powered space- Launch Alliance. lecting Martian surface samples to send back craft the size of a golf cart on the surface to , searching for signs of ancient life, and of the Red . And on July 30, NASA conducting next-level scientific research. The launched its Perseverance rover to Mars car-sized rover will also be deploying the first from Kennedy Space Center aboard an planetary helicopter for a test flight and testing Atlas V rocket. Perseverance is the most experimental technologies that could pave the advanced to be sent to Mars way for crewed surface missions in the coming yet. Part of the rover’s mission is to col- decades. lect rock and soil samples that will lat- “The spacecraft is on it’s way to Mars with all er be returned to Earth for closer study, subsystems operating nominally,” said Heather especially for bio-signatures that could Bottom, a NASA JPL engineer who indicate if life once thrived on the Red lives in Hilo, Hawaii. Planet. @PISCES_Hawaii > Continued on Page 2 > Continued on Page 5 Economic Development · Workforce Development · Applied Research Page 1/5 www.pacificspacecenter.com Newsletter August 2020 - Issue 8 Volume 8 Cont: NASA Mars Rover... > Continued from Page 1 “It’s completed over one percent of its six- month journey with two-way communication over the Deep Space Network. We’re now preparing for a handful of hardware check- outs, turns and planned trajectory correction maneuvers that will occur before on Mars.” Before the surface mission begins, Percy must overcome the next big challenge of a successful landing. When it arrives in sev- en months, NASA engineers will endure the could provide aerial views for rovers and hu- Above: Illustration “seven minutes of terror” when the rover will man crews, transport for small cargo loads of the route takes to be out of contact during entry, descent and and access to hard-to-reach areas. the Red Planet, landing. Like its predecessor , Per- In addition to seven scientific instruments including several cy will touch down using a rocket-powered and two dozen cameras, Percy is also out- trajectory correction sky crane—a proven technology still remi- fitted with a machine called MOXIE, or Mars maneuvers Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization. As the (TCMs) to adjust niscent of a sci-fi film. its flight path. NASA has targeted Jezero Crater as the name suggests, it is designed to generate Credit: NASA/ landing site, a region believed to have once oxygen from Mars’ carbon dioxide-rich atmo- JPL-Caltech. held a lake and river . While Percy’s sphere to—hopefully—produce breathable predecessors Curiosity and as- air for and rocket fuel one day. sessed the geological characteristics of the Perseverance is not alone on its 350 mil- Martian surface, Percy will dig deeper to lion-mile trip to Mars. On July 19, the UAE analyze the chemical makeup of the surface launched its first-ever interplanetary mission, and look for possible carbon-based mole- sending a Mar probe called Hope to the Red cules—signatures of life as we know it. It will Planet. Four days later, China launched its also gather rock and soil samples to return first Mars orbiter, and rover mission, to Earth. NASA and the ESA are planning a called Tianwen-1. The three spacecrafts are joint mission to return the samples for closer all slated for arrival in February next year. study on Earth as early as 2031. Perseverance is part of the U.S.’s larger Percy’s sidekick, Ingenuity, will be the and Mars exploration strategy which first planetary helicopter to fly the Martian aims to prepare the way for human explora- skies. Over the course of one Earth month, tion. Percy has been eight years in the mak- the copter will attempt five flights to assess ing since NASA announced it would build a its capabilities and lay the groundwork for new rover based on Curiosity back in 2012. future airborne vehicles. Small helicopters

Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems Page 2/5 www.pacificspacecenter.com Newsletter August 2020 - Issue 8 Volume 8 From Earth to Mars: Motiv’s Path to Commercialize Space

By: Chris McQuin - Chief Engineer, Motiv Space Systems Above: Motiv’s RoboMantis with here is a coming gold rush in space, both Motiv also set out to apply best practices, dual manipulators Tliteral and figurative, as the promise of from our collective experience building and (left) and a single lower cost access to space couples with sending systems to other to mobile (right). the ever-increasing capabilities of - ground here on Earth to similarly en- Credit: Motiv Space Systems. ics to enable new enterprises. These de- able new capabilities in smaller, lighter, more velopments in the field of robotics are well capable packages. aligned with the interest at the national level Over the last few years, Motiv has been for increased responsiveness, flexibility and busy developing many new and exciting capabilities for flight missions. Additionally, systems. Our first launched payload in significant and growing commercial interest 2018 sent motion control avionics to the in activities such as on- manufacturing International as part of NA- and assembly, servicing, and in-si- SA’s RRM3 mission, demonstrating robotic tu resource utilization of valuable resources refueling technologies for spacecraft. Motiv (such as water and precious metals on the also developed and delivered the 2m ro- Moon, and beyond) are enabled by botic arm for NASA’s Perseverance Rover, robust and accessible space robotics. which launched to Mars on July 30th. Si- Motiv was founded in 2014 to address multaneously with these delivered systems, these current and future needs for systems we designed, built and delivered multiple integrating electronics, motion control and space-rated motion control systems and robotic hardware that can survive the chal- mechanisms for other NASA and commer- lenges of space and subsequently enable cial customers for various destinations in the next generation capabilities. In parallel, . > Continued on Page 4 Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems Page 3/5 www.pacificspacecenter.com Newsletter August 2020 - Issue 8 Volume 8 Cont: From Earth to Mars: Motiv’s Path... > Continued from Page 3 tiv’s RoboMantis development efforts was While conquering space, Motiv has also fo- the key realization that the same system cused on developing a modular robotic sys- approach used for our terrestrial robotics tem capable of feats of strength and dexterity. could drastically reduce the cost and lead- RoboMantis is Motiv’s rugged and modular, time of robotic systems for space. As a result, general-purpose robotic platform that can be Motiv’s modular space system, configured for almost any task. Informed by xLink, was born. xLink enables an order of the best practices in aerospace robotics sys- magnitude reduction in cost, and significant tem design, RoboMantis is lighter and more improvement in lead-time for space-flight capable than previous generations of robots. robotic systems without sacrificing the per- It is designed to tackle extreme terrain, ac- formance or reliability needed for space. cess remote and dangerous sites, and be Motiv’s first xLink launch will be on NASA’s able to physically interact with the environ- OSAM-2 mission. ment once there. It is a machine designed to At Motiv, we are working on extreme perform tasks on the same scale as a human systems—both in performance and environ- responder, but with the safety, precision and mental functionality—for the Earth, Moon, strength afforded by a robot. Motiv is explor- Mars and beyond. These systems are en- ing opportunities for RoboMantis in mining, abling technologies to expand our collective energy, disaster response, agriculture, con- scientific knowledge, create new capabilities struction, and other industries here on Earth. and utilize more of the solar system than Motiv’s robotic systems and integrated tools ever before. To succeed in space, we design can make processes more efficient, safer and test to the actual mission environments and cost effective by enabling operators to before they launch. We are looking forward not only inspect, but also react to new infor- to the chance to work with PISCES to test mation or situations arising during work with- and validate our systems here on Earth in in these fields. analog testing sites before sending our revo- One of the interesting findings from Mo- lutionary machines into space. Right: Motiv’s robotic arm on the front of NASA’s Perseverance Rover, currently headed to Mars after a successful launch on July 30, 2020. Credit: NASA/ JPL-Caltech

PISCES Hawaii · [email protected] · +1 (808) 935-8270 Page 4/5 www.pacificspacecenter.com Newsletter August 2020 - Issue 8 Volume 8 Cont: Letter from the Director... 3rd Annual EMER-GEN Perseverance rover. Credit: Program Goes Virtual NASA/JPL-Caltech.

he 2020 EMER-GEN program Tfor young professionals and > Continued from Page 1 students interested in space Perseverance has a special gram as planned. However, we are careers will be held as a virtual meaning to us in Hilo, for it has working with our sponsors to carry event this year, beginning Aug. 26. two direct links with our com- the funding over for next summer. EMER-GEN is a joint initiative of the munity. Aaron Roth, a graduate We are also planning for a STEM AMOS (Advanced Maui Optical and from Waiākea High School and a Q&A session during fall break to Space Surveillance Technologies) two-time PISCES intern, works at inspire young women and under- Conference and Space Generation NASA JPL and is among the many represented youth in STEM fields. Advisory Council (SGAC). team members working on Perse- I am grateful to our colleagues at With the help of advisers verance. Heather Bottom, an engi- Microsoft for showing support and from industry, government, neer with JPL and resident of Hilo, interest in helping organize a webi- academia and NGOs, attendees is on the team responsible for the nar series. will get mentoring with renowned transport vehicle delivering Perse- Finally, in non-space related space specialists, networking verance to Mars. news, House Bill 1912 which mod- opportunities, technical courses Aerospace is in our DNA and the ified some of PISCES’ statutes and professional development possibilities that it can bring to our and the organization of the board sessions. state’s economic recovery are very of directors passed both cham- EMER-GEN was originally a promising. That is why we continue bers and was sent to the governor two-day program but has grown to work with legislators and industry to be signed into law. We want to to include pre- and post-event leaders to develop an Aerospace express our gratitude to the leader- webinars to foster innovation Industry cluster in Hawaii. ship team at DBEDT, and the leg- and entrepreneurship. During Due to the COVID pandemic, islative support we received from the program, participants will be we have sadly decided to cancel Rep. Mark Nakashima of Hawaiʻi challenged to solve a problem the 2020 STARS program sched- Island, Rep. Angus McKelvey on that creates new opportunities for uled during fall break in October. Maui and Sen. Glenn Wakai from space-based technologies. With the recent spike in cases and Oʻahu. Registration is available online uncertainty of the virus’ trajectory A hui hou, until Aug. 5 for a reduced fee of in the coming months, we did not Rodrigo Romo $95. Scholarships are available for think it safe to conduct the pro- Program Director Hawaiʻi residents. Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems Page 5/5