The Mars Science Laboratory that will approach the Red Planet on Sunday, Aug. 5, is the culmination of a $2.5 billion project and one of the most challenging engineering feats NASA has ever attempted.
Jeff Barnes, a professor at Oregon State University, has been working for the past four years with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., on a computer model of the Martian atmosphere that the project engineers have used to make adjustments in the spacecraft’s control system for the landing.
Designing an autonomously controlled spacecraft to go from an initial speed of 13,000 miles per hour to almost zero in just seven minutes – on a planet where winds howl and temperatures are frigid – requires off-the-charts engineering acumen, as well as in-depth knowledge of Mars’ atmospheric conditions.
“MSL is one of the most robust space vehicles ever built but there will still be a lot of tension until those few minutes are over and we know that the landing was a good one,” said Barnes, an atmospheric scientist and one of the world’s leading experts on the Martian atmosphere.
“The critical atmospheric factors are wind, temperature and density,” Barnes noted. “Density is the most important because you are trying to slow the spacecraft down and enable it to land within 10 to 15 kilometers of the prime target for science. Densities lower than expected could be real trouble, because the spacecraft will automatically ‘dive’ to lower altitudes to find higher densities in order to slow down sufficiently. If it gets too low before the parachutes are deployed, a safe landing would be jeopardized.”
Barnes’ involvement in Mars research dates all of the way back to the historic Viking mission. More recently, Barnes was heavily involved in the 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission, which operated the first rover on the Mars surface.
RSS