Now that you are on Mars, here's a panorama... http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/high-res-curiosity-panorama/
Where's Burning Man? [?] Ted On Sat, Sep 1, 2012 at 7:48 PM, <dirt...@comcast.net> wrote: > How to Get to Mars > > **** ** > > This is way, way off topic, unless you have some far-out idea about > exploring caves on Mars. > > ** ** > > This is all about how we have landed the Martian rovers. Some > interesting animations and information if you are interested and have not > been following this in detail. > > ** ** > > A JPL animation of the Spirit Rover mission that launched in 2003. > > ** ** > > Click here: How to Get to > Mars.<http://www.youtube.com/embed/XRCIzZHpFtY?rel=0> > > ** ** > > The comparable animation of the current mission is > > ** ** > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwinFP8_qIM&feature=related**** > > ** ** > > Which depicts the seemingly crazy landing scheme (which worked!) and some > things that have not happened yet. > > ** ** > > A video of the details of how the landing scheme for Curiosity worked: > > ** ** > > > http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xskwyy_rover-curiosity-s-entry-descent-landing-what-to-expect_tech > **** > > ** ** > > The rover is as large as a small car and weighs a ton. This amount of > mass, plus, of course, the heat shield, rockets, and sky-crane backpack, > make this by far the most massive Lander ever attempted on Mars. It is too > heavy to land with previously used systems, such as the "balloon" cocoon > used before the two smaller rovers in 2004. > > ** ** > > From first touching the Martian atmosphere at about 13,000 mph (6 km/sec) > it took 7 minutes to land. Radio transmission to the Lander from Earth > takes 14 minutes, so the Lander was pre-programmed and had to execute > everything flawlessly without guidance from Earth. > > ** ** > > The first major "new" idea with this Lander was a guided entry - the > Lander encased in its container and heat shield had aerodynamic lift - it > was steerable and flyable, thanks in part to tungsten masses (weights) that > kept it's mass off-center, and to small rockets on the back of the > > encased Lander. This made sure that the Lander was aimed at the correct > landing spot. Mars has just enough atmosphere that things heat up - to > around 1600 degrees F in hypersonic entry down to about 1000 mph - still > supersonic. > > ** ** > > The largest ever supersonic parachute is deployed. There is no way to > test this parachute in advance - the engioneering design has to be good. The > tungsten masses are ejected to correct the center of gravity and the heat > shield ejected so the Lander can see the surface and find its > pre-programmed landing spot. > > ** ** > > The Martian atmosphere is so thin that the parachute could only slow the > Lander to about 200 mph a mile above the surface. At this point the > parachute is released and the rocket backpack flys the Lander sideways and > away from the parachute. Then it begins a vertical descent toward the > surface, slowing the Lander to about 1.5 mph. > > ** ** > > The second really "new" idea is the sky crane. Still descending vertically > at about 1.5 mph, the rover deploys it's wheels and is lowered 20 meters > below the rocket platform. When the rover's wheels touch the Martian > surface and it's weight is taken up by the ground, the sky crane waits 5 > seconds to make sure the Rover is really on the surface, then cuts the > cables attaching it to the Rover, and flys up and off to the side, crashing > a safe distance from the Rover. > > ** ** > > The Rover unfurls it's cameras and antenna, checks itself, and send a > message back to Earth "Hi. I'm here. Waiting further Instructions". 15 > minutes later, the control room at JPL erupts with shouts of relief. > > ** ** > > DirtDoc > >
