technology enabling the exploration of mars
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Technology Enabling the Exploration of Mars. Brooke Tuttle ITMG 100 09 – PowerPoint Presentation 11/18/2008. What has NASA been pursuing?. A science based exploration of Mars to understand: Life Climate Geology Preparation for Human Exploration . Focus Technology. Base Technology. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Technology Enabling the Exploration of
MarsBrooke Tuttle
ITMG 100 09 – PowerPoint Presentation11/18/2008
What has NASA been pursuing?
• A science based exploration of Mars to understand:– Life– Climate– Geology– Preparation for Human Exploration
Focus Technology• Specific and essential • ‘Near-term’ missions Base Technology
• Applies to various missions
• Long term• High risk• High pay off
The Mars Technology ProgramFocus Technology Base Technology
Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Rover Technology
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Mars Science Instrument Development
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Telecom and Navigation
Mars Telecom Orbiter (MTO) Planetary Protection
Second Decade Missions Advanced EDL
Mars Sample Return (MSR) Subsurface Access
Astrobiology Field Laboratory (AFL) Low-Cost Mission Technology
Advanced Electronics
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
What is the MSL?•Mars Science Laboratory
– IT’S A ROVER!!
• Gathering samples
• Fall 2009!!!
Is there REALLY life on Mars?!
• WAS there or IS there microbial life?– aka ‘habitability’
• Soil and rock samples –Geology and climate
• Innovative technology
Broad Benefit Technologies
• Propulsion –Atlas V
• Power– MMRTG
• Telecommunications• Software engineering–Daily updates
In-situ Exploration and Sample Return Technologies• What is in-situ??– In the aerospace industry,
equipment on board an aircraft must be tested "in situ", or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system.
- So, exploration ‘in the place of’ Mars
Entry, Descent, and Landing• Guided Entry (GNC)
• Powered Descent
• Descent Imaging
• Bigger Parachute
• Sky Crane
Autonomous Planetary Mobility
• Avoid hazards• Traditional technologies• Innovative technologies– Size of a miniature compact car
• Rocker bogie• Global path planning and visual
target planning
Technologies for Severe Environments
• Temperature varies from -196˚F to 86˚F• How does that poor rover not just
explode?–General use of instruments create heat–Strategic heaters–Heat Rejection System
Sample Return Technologies• Gather samples and store for
analysis• Actually testing the latest
technologies• Hopefully paving the way for future
missions to bring back samples to Earth
Planetary Protection Technologies• Cleaning and sterilizing• Handling of rock, soil, and
atmospheric samples• We do NOT want to discover
ourselves!• LAL & ATP = faster measures of
biological cleanliness
Works Cited• "NASA's Mars Exploration Program." Technologies
That Enable Mars Exploration. 12 Mar. 2006. NASA. <http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/technology/>.
• "Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology." Mars Science Laboratory. 13 Nov. 2008. NASA. <http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/>.
• In Situ. 13 Nov. 2008. Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/in_situ>.
Questions?! =)