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GRAIL Twins Toast New Year from Lunar Orbit Jet JANUARY Propulsion 2012 Laboratory VOLUME 42 NUMBER 1 GRAIL twins toast new year from Three-month ‘formation flying’ mission will By Mark Whalen lunar orbit study the moon from crust to core Above: The GRAIL team celebrates with cake and apple cider. Right: Celebrating said. “So it does take a lot of planning, a lot of test- the other spacecraft will accelerate towards that moun- GRAIL-A’s Jan. 1 lunar orbit insertion are, from left, Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal ing and then a lot of small maneuvers in order to get tain to measure it. The change in the distance between investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Charles Elachi, JPL director; ready to set up to get into this big maneuver when we the two is noted, from which gravity can be inferred. Jim Green, NASA director of planetary science. go into orbit around the moon.” One of the things that make GRAIL unique, Hoffman JPL’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) A series of engine burns is planned to circularize said, is that it’s the first formation flying of two spacecraft mission celebrated the new year with successful main the twins’ orbit, reducing their orbital period to a little around any body other than Earth. “That’s one of the engine burns to place its twin spacecraft in a perfectly more than two hours before beginning the mission’s biggest challenges we have, and it’s what makes this an synchronized orbit around the moon. 82-day science phase. “If these all go as planned, we exciting mission,” he said. By surveying the moon from the crust to the core will be ready to start science data collection no later The GRAIL team includes a number of staff members using a JPL-built sensor, the mission will create the most than March 8,” Hoffman said. who also worked on JPL’s Gravity Recovery and Climate accurate gravitational field map ever of Earth’s natural After their Sept. 10 launch, the GRAIL pair—each Experiment, or GRACE, a mission comprising two space- satellite. In the process, the evolution of solar system’s about the size of a washing machine—cruised for about craft flying in tandem that has very precisely measured rocky planets will be further revealed, and navigation for 3½ months to reach the lunar orbital period. While the Earth’s gravitational field for almost 10 years. future lunar visitors will be much improved. Apollo missions took only about three days to reach the GRACE used GPS, which is critical for both position- GRAIL-B achieved lunar orbit Jan. 1, one day after moon, GRAIL needed the extra time for several reasons, ing and timing when trying measure small changes in GRAIL-A successfully completed its engine burn. The explained Hoffman. relative velocity. With no GPS for the moon, GRAIL had insertion maneuvers placed the spacecraft into a near- “Apollo and other missions that took a direct trajec- to recreate those two portions of the system. Hoffman polar, elliptical orbit with an orbital period of about 11½ tory to the moon have had huge propulsion systems,” said the mission’s time-transfer system essentially sends hours. Hoffman said. “Our spacecraft are very small, because a “coded time stamp” between the two orbiters; an ultra- “Everything went exactly as expected for both lunar they have just one instrument, the lunar gravity ranging stable oscillator continuously keeps track of the relative orbit insertions,” said Deputy Project Manager Tom Hoff- system. Smaller is better, because that makes them more time on each of the two. A radio science beacon sends man. “The combined JPL/Lockheed Martin team per- stable during the science phase of the mission. For us, data to the Deep Space Network from each of the two formed excellently and the vehicles behaved flawlessly.” having a large propulsion system would be expensive, vehicles. While team members’ new year celebration was a and also would not be as good for the science. GRACE payload manager Charlie Dunn served in bit deferred, it wasn’t a problem. “The team still had “The low-energy trajectory worked perfectly and al- the same role during GRAIL’s development, and many operations to perform to repressurize the main tank lowed us to only expend about 24 kilograms of fuel for subsystem engineers, cognizant engineers and test on Jan. 2, but I am sure they had a good evening each spacecraft, which produced about 190 meters per technicians were in the same group that developed knowing that they had gotten not one, but two vehicles second in delta-V,” Hoffman added. “This is a low cost for the GRACE instrument. Bill Klipstein, payload systems successfully into lunar orbit,” Hoffman noted. entering lunar orbit.” engineer for GRACE, is now payload manager for Project Manager David Lehman noted that a ma- Stability is critical for the GRAIL twins as they have GRAIL. JPL’s Michael Watkins is the project scientist, neuver prior to orbit insertion changed the GRAIL-A embarked on an encounter of intricate and precise for- with Sami Asmar as his deputy. JPL co-investigators spacecraft’s speed by just 0.05 mile per hour. “That’s mation flying, as each spacecraft measures differences are Alex Konopliv and James Williams. GRAIL’s princi- how small we had to make this change in order to as small as a micron between the two. For example, after pal investigator is Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. affect going into orbit precisely around the moon,” he one of the pair flies over a mountain, a few minutes later Continued on page 2 NuStar, Dawn, Mars Science Lab to highlight 2012 Four launches and several encounters This means that NuSTAR will make much DAWN made 2011 a banner year for JPL. The crisper images of the high-energy X-ray JPL’s Dawn spacecraft, which has been When Curiosity has been slowed to nearly zero velocity, the rover Lab will be busy as well in 2012, as JPL sky than previously possible above 10 orbiting the giant asteroid Vesta since will be released from the descent stage. A bridle and umbilical launches another spacecraft and carries keV, providing 100 to 200 times more July, sent back the first images from its cord will lower the rover to the ground. The rover’s front mobility out a number of key mission events. sensitivity than Swift. low-altitude mapping orbit on Dec. 13, system will be deployed so that it is essentially ready to rove upon Key JPL staff on NuStar are Project 210 kilometers (130 miles) above the landing. NUSTAR Manager Yunjin Kim, Project Scientist surface. The images show the lumpy sur- Daniel Stern and Project Systems Engi- face in detail never seen before. maneuver in December due to an ultra- neer Jason Willis. About 20 JPL employ- The focus of the low-orbit investigation precise orbit placement following its ees are working on the project through is to determine Vesta’s elemental compo- launch a month earlier. The first trajecto- launch, and three JPLers are on the sci- sition and to measure its gravity field to ry-correction maneuver during the trip is ence team. high accuracy. Scientists plan to acquire now planned for Jan. 11. NuSTAR will launch into a low-Earth data in this orbit through mid-February. The mission’s car-sized Curiosity rover orbit on a Pegasus XL rocket from the As a bonus, the mission team is acquiring in December began monitoring space Kwajalein Atoll, the world’s largest coral additional images and visible and infrared radiation, research that will aid in plan- atoll, which lies midway between Austra- ning for future human missions to the Red NuStar will launch from a Pegasus XL rocket. spectra. lia and Hawaii. NuSTAR will be the fourth Dawn will begin its ascent to higher alti- Planet. Curiosity’s Radiation Assessment In March, the Lab will launch the Pegasus launch conducted from the area. tude about April 1. From mid-May to early Detector instrument monitors high-energy Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Orbital Sciences Corp. built the rocket, June, the mission will conduct another atomic and subatomic particles from the Array, or NuStar, which will embark on a which will be released at about 40,000 intensive science campaign at an altitude of sun, distant supernovas and other sourc- two-year quest to study the cosmos with feet from a Stargazer L-1011 aircraft. about 680 kilometers (420 miles). By May, es. The particles constitute radiation unprecedented sensitivity using high- For more information, visit www. the progression of the seasons at Vesta will that could be harmful to any microbes or energy X-rays. nustar.caltech.edu. allow Dawn to see newly illuminated parts astronauts in space or on Mars. The rover Led by Principal Investigator Fiona of the surface. also will monitor radiation on the surface Harrison of Caltech, the NASA Small Following that, Dawn will begin its of Mars after landing. Explorer mission will map supernova gradual climb out to escape from Vesta, Ten instruments on Curiosity will as- explosions and search for black holes stopping along the way to observe the sess whether Mars’ Gale Crater could be and other phenomena. Deployed on a asteroid again as the season continues or has been favorable for microbial life. 10-meter (30-foot) mast that separates to advance. Dawn will leave Vesta in late The spacecraft is on course to land at focal-plane detectors from optics mod- July to begin an interplanetary cruise to Mars’ Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012, Uni- ules, NuStar is the first satellite mission Ceres, which will be reached in February versal Time (evening of Aug.
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