DOCSLIB.ORG

Planetary Report Report

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Planetary Report Report The PLANETARYPLANETARY REPORT REPORT Volume XXIX Number 1 January/February 2009 Beyond The Moon From The Editor he Internet has transformed the way science is On the Cover: Tdone—even in the realm of “rocket science”— The United States has the opportunity to unify and inspire the and now anyone can make a real contribution, as world’s spacefaring nations to create a future brightened by long as you have the will to give your best. new goals, such as the human exploration of Mars and near- In this issue, you’ll read about a group of amateurs Earth asteroids. Inset: American astronaut Peggy A. Whitson who are helping professional researchers explore and Russian cosmonaut Yuri I. Malenchenko try out training Mars online, encouraged by Mars Exploration versions of Russian Orlan spacesuits. Background: The High Rovers Project Scientist Steve Squyres and Plane- Resolution Camera on Mars Express took this snapshot of tary Society President Jim Bell (who is also head Candor Chasma, a valley in the northern part of Valles of the rovers’ Pancam team.) Marineris, on July 6, 2006. Images: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training This new Internet-enabled fun is not the first, Center. Background: ESA nor will it be the only, way people can participate in planetary exploration. The Planetary Society has been encouraging our members to contribute Background: their minds and energy to science since 1984, A dust storm blurs the sky above a volcanic caldera in this image when the Pallas Project helped to determine the taken by the Mars Color Imager on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shape of a main-belt asteroid. (MRO). Such storms can lift dust particles high into the atmo- In 1999, your founding sponsorship of SETI@ sphere, causing them to seed water-ice cloud formation. Water home helped launch the field of distributed com- ice condenses onto the dust particles to form wispy white clouds. puting; its descendants now enlist people around Image: NASA/JPL/MSSS the world searching for a cure for cancer, model- ing climate change, tracking earthquakes, and engaging in other scientific projects. And let’s not overlook your contribution to the new Roadmap for Space Exploration that The Planetary Society has already presented in Wash- ington, D.C. to the presidential transition team, the U.S. Congress, and the National Research Council. Through the town halls we held in the United States and the United Kingdom, your support of our advocacy campaign with your letters to Congress, your signatures on petitions, and your donations to the cause, you are helping Contact Us to determine humanity’s future in the cosmos. Mailing Address: The Planetary Society, There is so much we have accomplished to- 65 North Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106-2301 gether—and so much more to do before we see General Calls: 626-793-5100 human footprints on Mars or peer beneath the Sales Calls Only: 626-793-1675 ice of Europa. Let’s get to work! E-mail: [email protected] —Charlene M. Anderson World Wide Web: http://planetary.org 2 THE PLANETARY REPORT JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009 Cofounder CARL SAGAN 1934–1996 Board of Directors Chairman of the Board DAN GERACI Chairman and CEO, Club Achilles—The Iron Age President JAMES BELL Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University Vice President BILL NYE science educator Executive Director LOUIS D. FRIEDMAN HEIDI HAMMEL Senior Research Scientist and Co-Director, Research, Space Science Institute G. SCOTT HUBBARD Contents professor, Stanford University WESLEY T. HUNTRESS JR. Director, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington LON LEVIN 4 Bootleg Postcards: Amateurs SkySevenVentures ALEXIS LIVANOS Corporate Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Participating in Space Missions Northrop Grumman Advisory Council Chair CHRISTOPHER P. McKAY by Doug Ellison planetary scientist BRUCE MURRAY Professor of Planetary Science and Geology, California Institute of Technology ELON MUSK 10 Beyond the Moon: A New Roadmap Chairman and CEO, SpaceX JOSEPH RYAN for Human Space Exploration in Ryan Investments, LLP STEVEN SPIELBERG the 21st Century director and producer BIJAL “BEE” THAKORE Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific, by The Roadmap Team Space Generation Advisory Council NEIL deGRASSE TYSON Astrophysicist and Director, Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History GEORGE YANCOPOULOS President and Chief Scientific Officer, 16 Looking Forward to a Regeneron Research Laborabories New Year of Exploration! International Council ROGER-MAURICE BONNET by Louis D. Friedman Executive Director, International Space Science Institute YASUNORI MATOGAWA Associate Executive Director, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency MAMORU MOHRI 18 We Make It Happen! Director, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation RISTO PELLINEN 20 Questions and Answers Director of Science in Space Research, Finnish Meteorological Institute 22 Society News Advisory Council BUZZ ALDRIN RICHARD BERENDZEN JACQUES BLAMONT RAY BRADBURY DAVID BRIN JAMES CANTRELL FRANKLIN CHANG-DIAZ FRANK DRAKE OWEN GARRIOTT The Planetary Report (ISSN 0736-3680) is published bimonthly at the editorial offices of The Planetary Society, 65 North GARRY E. HUNT Catalina Avenue, Pasadena CA 91106-2301, 626-793-5100. It is available to members of The Planetary Society. Annual dues in the United States are $30 (U.S. dollars); in Canada, $40 (Canadian dollars). Dues in other countries are $45 BRUCE JAKOSKY (U.S. dollars). Printed in USA. Third-class postage at Pasadena, California, and at an additional mailing office. Canada Post Agreement Number 87424. THOMAS D. JONES SERGEI KAPITSA Editor, CHARLENE M. ANDERSON Copy Editor, A.J. SOBCZAK Associate Editor, DONNA ESCANDON STEVENS Proofreader, LOIS SMITH CHARLES E. KOHLHASE JR. Managing Editor, JENNIFER VAUGHN Art Director, BARBARA S. SMITH LAURIE LESHIN Technical Editor, JAMES D. BURKE Science Editor, BRUCE BETTS JOHN M. LOGSDON Viewpoints expressed in columns and editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent positions of The Planetary Society, its officers, or its advisers. ©2009 by The Planetary Society. JON LOMBERG ROSALY LOPES HANS MARK JOHN MINOGUE ROBERT PICARDO JOHN RHYS-DAVIES KIM STANLEY ROBINSON DONNA L.SHIRLEY KEVIN STUBE A PUBLICATION OF 3 THE PLANETARY REPORT JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009 This mosaic, titled Rocky Martian High, is constructed from images Spirit took near the by Doug Ellison summit of Mars’ Husband Hill. The original panorama was promptly noticed by the press, but few people noticed that it accidentally showed both front and back portions of the rover. This corrected version has been widely seen in print and online. Mosaic: NASA/JPL/Cornell University/Marco Di Lorenzo et al. Courtesy of Aviation Week and Space Technology t’s not often you get a chance to play with a space- of a decade. The first exploratory mission to share all craft in space. But with missions like the Mars raw images in near-real time was the twin MERs, which IExplorations Rovers (MERs) Spirit and Opportunity, landed in January 2004. Phoenix, New Horizons, and Mars Express, the mem- The idea of sharing the images from the 10 different bers of the public are—as much as can be—given such cameras on board each rover with the public via the Web, an opportunity. from the moment the rovers were on the ground, came The data from spacecraft that conduct systematic independently to Principal Investigator Steve Squyres monitoring of Earth and space, such as weather satellites and to Jim Bell, the Payload Element lead for the Pan- and the SOHO solar observing satellite, have been ap- oramic Camera (Pancam) and now Planetary Society 4 pearing on the Internet in short order for the better part president. The decision to put that idea into action cer- THE PLANETARY REPORT JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009 tainly changed my life and has positively influenced mistake: two frames that fit beautifully at the bottom many others. With those uncalibrated, compressed images, of the mosaic showing the back of the rover in context amateurs like me were able to reconstruct the mosaics actually should have been taken of the front of the rover, and color images the rovers were sending back and to see showing the potential work volume of its robotic arm Mars as quickly as were the scientists and engineers (see image on page 4). But what a beautiful mistake driving the rovers. To share my early, primitive efforts, it was! I started a forum to discuss techniques and results. That At the behest of Covault, a team led by Ken Kremer forum has since evolved into Unmannedspaceflight.com, and that included Bernhard Braun, Marco di Lorenzo, known to many just as UMSF. and I produced a stitched, tweaked, polished, and then So what do people do with images from Spirit and colorized panorama that made the cover of Aviation Opportunity? Week under the headline “Rocky Martian High.” As if that was not enough, the picture later was featured on Getting Noticed the popular “Astronomy Picture of the Day” website, Using cheap, free, or even home-brewed image-stitch- became one of New Scientist’s Images of the Year for ing software, people can take the individual frames and 2005, and was even seen in the science supplement of convert them into stitched color panoramas extending a Belgian newspaper. to tens of megapixels in resolution. Because of the sheer number of people looking at the images—and the Amateur Experts on Mars amount of Photoshop® “talent” out there on the Web— Dan Crotty has made it his job to produce a calibrated it is not uncommon, after a typical rover drive, for new color version of every Pancam sequence from the twin panoramas from the rover to be stitched together and rovers. He has created highly stretched movies that posted to the forum within six hours of the images show the dust devils screaming past the Columbia Hills making it back to Earth. (This state of affairs is quite and the evolution of their tracks on the northern slopes different from the days when we would wait for new of Husband Hill.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • International Space Exploration Strategy Group International Space Exploration
    INTERNATIONAL SPACE EXPLORATION STRATEGY GROUP INTERNATIONAL SPACE EXPLORATION. STRATEGY GROUP ADVANCING THE EXPLORATION FRONTIER For the last forty years, human In recent years multiple reports define exploration in the coming space exploration has made have recommended international decades. significant progress through partners come together for The group will bring together the international collaboration. The strategic planning activities. interests of all human spaceflight Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and However, many national partners, rather than national Shuttle-Mir Programs marked government planning activities interests subject to changing the end of the Space Race, are severely limited in their political influences. and advanced long duration consideration of international This project provides a unique spaceflight. The International partners. Furthermore, opportunity for current and Space Station (ISS) is now in its government and industry recent graduate student second decade as a continuously planners may not have access researchers to collaborate with occupied human outpost in Low- to the latest technologies being others from around the world. Earth Orbit (LEO). While we developed at leading research Most importantly, participants expect productive utilization of institutions around the world. will have the opportunity to ISS through at least 2020, there We believe an international influence the government and is currently no internationally graduate student working group industry decision makers that recognized program for human is well-suited to generate and define future human exploration exploration beyond LEO. communicate the ideas that will strategy. 3 INTERNATIONAL SPACE EXPLORATION. STRATEGY GROUP INTERNATIONAL SPACE EXPLORATION. STRATEGY GROUP LEADERSHIP Edward Crawley is President of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech).
    [Show full text]
  • The Rovers' Tale
    Vol 436|11 August 2005 BOOKS & ARTS The rovers’ tale How NASA scientists overcame the odds to find signs of water on Mars. Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet by Steve Squyres JPL/NASA Hyperion: 2005. 432 pp. $25.95 Gregory Benford Roving Marsis a deftly and dramatically writ- ten history of the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. It is also a primer on how to do exotic geology at a distance of 100 million miles using robots. Steve Squyres knows how to render scenes and intricate technical detail to build tension, without losing sight of the thrill and grind of the groundbreaking work. “Eleven years had passed since I had started trying to send hardware to Mars, and in all that time I hadn’t seen a single plan for Mars explo- ration survive for more than about eighteen months before there was some sort of cata- clysm,” writes Squyres. Chief among these was the loss of the 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter: “The Mars program had become so screwed up that nobody had caught a high-school mis- take like mixing up English and metric units.” NASA doesn’t escape criticism over the rover mission either. According to Squyres, NASA’s On a roll: during testing for manoeuvrability in the lab, the rovers overcame a series of obstacles. rules meant that “cutting corners and taking chances” were the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s The team had to trim experiments and patch signs of ancient surface water and found it, only management tools. After the losses of the problems right up to the launch date.
    [Show full text]
  • THE PLANETARY REPORT JUNE SOLSTICE 2017 VOLUME 37, NUMBER 2 Planetary.Org
    THE PLANETARY REPORT JUNE SOLSTICE 2017 VOLUME 37, NUMBER 2 planetary.org SPECTACULAR JUPITER JUNO REVEALS A SURPRISING AND COMPLEX WORLD CHINA’S CHANG’E-5 C A NEW SMOKING GUN? C A PLANETARY DEFENSE PLAN SNEAK PEAK RICHARD CHUTE is The Planetary Society’s chief development officer. Help Us Fuel Up for Launch! Watch As We Get Ready for LightSail 2… We could employ solar sails, vast but very thin films that catch sunlight…plying the void between the worlds. Especially for trips to Mars and beyond, such methods are far better than rockets. — Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot THE PLANETARY SOCIETY’S LightSail® 2 get there, we need one more boost from our spacecraft is one step closer to the launch vitally important mission team: the members pad and ready to make space exploration of The Planetary Society. ABOVE LEFT A history! In the two years since our test launch In the coming weeks, we’ll be launching a remote camera placed of LightSail 1, our spacecraft has undergone special member appeal to help us store the Society Planetary Spradling/The Josh illustration: Baraty; Navid Launch photo: near the launch pad an extensive review followed by a series of financial fuel we need to complete the work captured this photo critical upgrades and tests. ahead of us. Watch for our special mailing and of LightSail 1 blasting off on May 20, 2015. Our new and improved LightSail 2 is now the opportunity to make a gift that will help being prepared for delivery to the Air Force us secure our place in history.
    [Show full text]
  • Esa Publications
    number 172 | 4th quarter 2017 bulletin → united space in europe European Space Agency The European Space Agency was formed out of, and took over the rights and The ESA headquarters are in Paris. obligations of, the two earlier European space organisations – the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) and the European Launcher Development The major establishments of ESA are: Organisation (ELDO). The Member States are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, ESTEC, Noordwijk, Netherlands. Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Slovenia is an Associate Member. Canada ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany. takes part in some projects under a cooperation agreement. Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia have cooperation agreements with ESA. ESRIN, Frascati, Italy. ESAC, Madrid, Spain. In the words of its Convention: the purpose of the Agency shall be to provide for and to promote, for exclusively peaceful purposes, cooperation among European EAC, Cologne, Germany. States in space research and technology and their space applications, with a view to their being used for scientific purposes and for operational space applications ECSAT, Harwell, United Kingdom. systems: ESEC, Redu, Belgium. → by elaborating and implementing a long-term European space policy, by recommending space objectives to the Member States, and by concerting the policies of the Member States with respect to other national
    [Show full text]
  • Planetary Report Report
    The PLANETARYPLANETARY REPORT REPORT Volume XXV Number 5 September/October 2005 ATACAMA DESERT MarsMars AnalogsAnalogs VALLES MARINERIS Volume XXV Table of Number 5 Contents September/October 2005 A PUBLICATION OF Features From The Dry Earth, Wet Mars 6 Sometimes the best place to learn about Mars exploration is right here on Editor Earth. In Chile’s Atacama Desert, scientists have discovered an area so dry that organic material, and therefore evidence of life, is virtually undetectable. Study of he damage that Earth inflicts on her this parched Mars-like region on Earth may lead us to a better understanding of Tinhabitants—horribly demonstrated how to search for water and the elements of life in Martian soil. This year, The by Hurricane Katrina and the December Planetary Society cosponsored a field expedition to the Atacama Desert, sending tsunami—reminds us what fragile creatures graduate student Troy Hudson on a 1-week adventure with a team of scientists led we are, lucky to survive at all on this dynamic, by Society Board member Chris McKay. Here, Troy describes his experience. dispassionate ball of rock hurtling through space. 12 The Pioneer Anomaly: A Deep Space Mystery Our exploration of other worlds has As Pioneer 10 and 11 head toward the farthest reaches of our solar system, taught us that the potential for planetary something strange is happening—they are mysteriously slowing down. Scientists catastrophe is always with us. On Mars, do not yet know why the spacecraft aren’t acting as expected; however, The we’ve seen planet-rending gouges cut by Planetary Society has stepped in to help fund the effort to analyze roughly 25 years catastrophic floods.
    [Show full text]
  • The Planetary Report
    On the Cover: Volume XV Seen thro ugh eyes other than our own, the planet Earth Table of Number 3 appears as a stran ge but beautiful place. The Galilea spacecraft on its way to Jupiter took thi s image of West ' Contents 'May/June 1995 Africa and the Mediterranean Sea from about 600 ,000 kilometers (400,000 miles) away. The spacecraft's camera was looking through infrared filters sensitive to light wave­ lengths unfamiliar to the human eye. Images ta ken th is way provide information about things such as the location an d health of vegetati on an d the water conte nt of clouds. Features Basics of Galilea's portrai ts of the planet cou ld be valuabl e referen ce 14 Spaceflight: poi nts for future Earth-monitoring spacecraft. Phoenix Rises: (See page 10 for a complete caption.) Gravity Assist 4 NASA SETI Project Image: Pau l Geissler, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Over the years the term "gravity assist" Un ivers ity of Arizona Is Reborn has appeared time and again in our pages. Two years ago the congressional budget This ingenious technique has made many cutters took an ax to NASA's ambitious of our pioneering spacecraft missions pos­ program in the Search for Extraterrestrial sible. For example, the Galileo encounter Froln Intelligence. But dedicated researchers with Earth was part of a gravity-assist refused to give up, and they found a way to maneuver. It's a hard technique to explain, The save part of the program. Project Phoenix but here we lay it out for our readers.
    [Show full text]
  • Retour Des Réponses Le 06/01/2020 À [email protected] PARTIE I
    Episode 2 – Énoncé des énigmes le 04/11/2019 ; retour des réponses le 06/01/2020 à [email protected] PARTIE I – Questions à choix multiples – Trouver la bonne réponse pour chacune des questions ! Question 1. Comparons nos deux planètes telluriques voisines La Terre et Mars. Quelle est la réponse fausse parmi les suivantes ? o Le diamètre de la planète Mars est plus petit que celui de la Terre o Ces deux planètes rocheuses ont la même masse volumique o Ces deux planètes sont rocheuses et ont chacune au moins un satellite o L’atmosphère de Mars est 61 fois plus fine que celle de la Terre o la gravité de surface sur Mars est seulement 38 % de celle de la Terre Question 2. Il n'y a pas que sur la Terre qu'il y a des volcans. Le volcanisme de la planète Mars serait apparu il y a près de quatre milliards d'années. Il aurait connu son intensité maximale à entre 3,7 et 3,2 Ga, puis se serait progressivement affaibli. Il a produit de nombreux volcans tels que Olympus Mons, Pavonis Mons, Ascraeus Mons, Elysium Mons, Arsia Mons. Localisez chacun de ces volcans sur la carte ci dessous : o volcan 1 > o volcan 2 > o volcan 3 > o volcan 4 > o volcan 5 > Question 3. Classez ces volcans par altitude. Le plus haut en premier (A), le moins haut en dernier (E) o volcan A le plus haut > o volcan B > o volcan C > o volcan D > o volcan E le moins haut > Question 4.
    [Show full text]
  • THE MARS 2020 ROVER ENGINEERING CAMERAS. J. N. Maki1, C
    51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2020) 2663.pdf THE MARS 2020 ROVER ENGINEERING CAMERAS. J. N. Maki1, C. M. McKinney1, R. G. Willson1, R. G. Sellar1, D. S. Copley-Woods1, M. Valvo1, T. Goodsall1, J. McGuire1, K. Singh1, T. E. Litwin1, R. G. Deen1, A. Cul- ver1, N. Ruoff1, D. Petrizzo1, 1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, [email protected]). Introduction: The Mars 2020 Rover is equipped pairs (the Cachecam, a monoscopic camera, is an ex- with a neXt-generation engineering camera imaging ception). The Mars 2020 engineering cameras are system that represents a significant upgrade over the packaged into a single, compact camera head (see fig- previous Navcam/Hazcam cameras flown on MER and ure 1). MSL [1,2]. The Mars 2020 engineering cameras ac- quire color images with wider fields of view and high- er angular/spatial resolution than previous rover engi- neering cameras. Additionally, the Mars 2020 rover will carry a new camera type dedicated to sample op- erations: the Cachecam. History: The previous generation of Navcams and Hazcams, known collectively as the engineering cam- eras, were designed in the early 2000s as part of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) program. A total of Figure 1. Flight Navcam (left), Flight Hazcam (middle), 36 individual MER-style cameras have flown to Mars and flight Cachecam (right). The Cachecam optical assem- on five separate NASA spacecraft (3 rovers and 2 bly includes an illuminator and fold mirror. landers) [1-6]. The MER/MSL cameras were built in two separate production runs: the original MER run Each of the Mars 2020 engineering cameras utilize a (2003) and a second, build-to-print run for the Mars 20 megapixel OnSemi (CMOSIS) CMOS sensor Science Laboratory (MSL) mission in 2008.
    [Show full text]
  • Educator's Guide
    EDUCATOR’S GUIDE ABOUT THE FILM Dear Educator, “ROVING MARS”is an exciting adventure that This movie details the development of Spirit and follows the journey of NASA’s Mars Exploration Opportunity from their assembly through their Rovers through the eyes of scientists and engineers fantastic discoveries, discoveries that have set the at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Steve Squyres, pace for a whole new era of Mars exploration: from the lead science investigator from Cornell University. the search for habitats to the search for past or present Their collective dream of Mars exploration came life… and maybe even to human exploration one day. true when two rovers landed on Mars and began Having lasted many times longer than their original their scientific quest to understand whether Mars plan of 90 Martian days (sols), Spirit and Opportunity ever could have been a habitat for life. have confirmed that water persisted on Mars, and Since the 1960s, when humans began sending the that a Martian habitat for life is a possibility. While first tentative interplanetary probes out into the solar they continue their studies, what lies ahead are system, two-thirds of all missions to Mars have NASA missions that not only “follow the water” on failed. The technical challenges are tremendous: Mars, but also “follow the carbon,” a building block building robots that can withstand the tremendous of life. In the next decade, precision landers and shaking of launch; six months in the deep cold of rovers may even search for evidence of life itself, space; a hurtling descent through the atmosphere either signs of past microbial life in the rock record (going from 10,000 miles per hour to 0 in only six or signs of past or present life where reserves of minutes!); bouncing as high as a three-story building water ice lie beneath the Martian surface today.
    [Show full text]
  • Emerging Technologies 1 for Human Mars Exploration
    Emerging Technologies 1 for Human Mars Exploration Michelle Rucker Mars Study Capability Team NASA Johnson Space Center IEEE Aerospace Conference 2018 March, 2018 Human Explorers on Mars 2 have different needs than rovers Power Life Support Health Care Shelter Communication Earth Return Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech IEEE Aerospace Conference 2018 March, 2018 Humans 3 need a lot more power! Rovers can hibernate…humans cannot . Mars rovers need less than 25 Watts (W) keep-alive power • Less than 650 W at peak loads . Human explorers may need as much as 40 kiloWatts (kW) for 300+ day surface missions • As much as 25 kW keep-alive power • Apollo missions were ~4 kW for 3 days . Kilopower Fission Power . High density energy storage . Robotic power connections IEEE Aerospace Conference 2018 March, 2018 Humans 4 need Life Support Systems! Rovers don’t need food, oxygen, water, bathrooms, or spacesuits . Closed-loop life support systems . Advanced water/air monitoring . Advanced waste management . Extended shelf-life food systems . New planetary spacesuits IEEE Aerospace Conference 2018 March, 2018 Humans 5 need Health Care! Rovers don’t get sick . Space radiation protection . Reduced gravity countermeasures . Autonomous medicine + non-physician training . In situ sample analysis, health monitoring IEEE Aerospace Conference 2018 March, 2018 Humans 6 need to come inside! Rovers don’t mind living outside . Reduced pressure . Temperature extremes . Months-long dust storms . Radiation . Long-duration habitats . Pressurized Rovers IEEE Aerospace Conference 2018 March, 2018 Humans 7 need to connect with loved ones! Isolation doesn’t bother a rover MARS . Up to 44 minutes delay between asking MARS EARTH Min.
    [Show full text]
  • Operation and Performance of the Mars Exploration Rover Imaging System on the Martian Surface
    Operation and Performance of the Mars Exploration Rover Imaging System on the Martian Surface Justin N. Maki Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA USA [email protected] Todd Litwin, Mark Schwochert Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA USA Ken Herkenhoff United States Geological Survey Flagstaff, AZ USA Abstract - The Imaging System on the Mars Exploration Rovers has successfully operated on the surface of Mars for over one Earth year. The acquisition of hundreds of panoramas and tens of thousands of stereo pairs has enabled the rovers to explore Mars at a level of detail unprecedented in the history of space exploration. In addition to providing scientific value, the images also play a key role in the daily tactical operation of the rovers. The mobile nature of the MER surface mission requires extensive use of the imaging system for traverse planning, rover localization, remote sensing instrument targeting, and robotic arm placement. Each of these activity types requires a different set of data compression rates, surface Figure 1. The Mars Exploration Spirit Rover, as viewed by coverage, and image acquisition strategies. An overview the Navcam shortly after lander egress early in the mission. of the surface imaging activities is provided, along with a presents an overview of the operation and performance of summary of the image data acquired to date. the MER Imaging System. Keywords: Imaging system, cameras, rovers, Mars, 1.2 Imaging System Design operations. The MER cameras are classified into five types: Descent cameras, Navigation cameras (Navcam), Hazard Avoidance 1 Introduction cameras (Hazcam), Panoramic cameras (Pancam), and Microscopic Imager (MI) cameras.
    [Show full text]
  • Resource Utilization and Site Selection for a Self-Sufficient Martian Outpost
    NASA/TM-98-206538 Resource Utilization and Site Selection for a Self-Sufficient Martian Outpost G. James, Ph.D. G. Chamitoff, Ph.D. D. Barker, M.S., M.A. April 1998 The NASA STI Program Office... in Profile Since its founding, NASA has been dedicated to CONTRACTOR REPORT. Scientific and the advancement of aeronautics and space technical findings by NASA-sponsored science. The NASA Scientific and Technical contractors and grantees. Information (STI) Program Office plays a key part in helping NASA maintain this important CONFERENCE PUBLICATION. Collected role. papers from scientific and technical confer- ences, symposia, seminars, or other meetings The NASA STI Program Office is operated by sponsored or cosponsored by NASA. Langley Research Center, the lead center for NASA's scientific and technical information. SPECIAL PUBLICATION. Scientific, The NASA STI Program Office provides access technical, or historical information from to the NASA STI Database, the largest NASA programs, projects, and mission, often collection of aeronautical and space science STI concerned with subjects having substantial in the word. The Program Office is also public interest. NASA's institutional mechanism for disseminating the results of its research and • TECHNICAL TRANSLATION. development activities. These results are English-language translations of foreign scientific published by NASA in the NASA STI Report and technical material pertinent to NASA's Series, which includes the following report mission. types: Specialized services that complement the STI TECHNICAL PUBLICATION. Reports of Program Office's diverse offerings include completed research or a major significant creating custom thesauri, building customized phase of research that present the results of databases, organizing and publishing research NASA programs and include extensive results.., even providing videos.
    [Show full text]