David A. Spencer

Overview of the Mars Pathfinder Mission: Launch through landing, surface operations, data sets, and science results

Mars Pathfinder successfully landed at Ares Vallis on July 4, 1997, deployed and navigated a small rover about 100 m clockwise around the lander, and collected data from three science instruments and ten technology experiments. The mission operated for three months and returned 2.3 Gbits of data, including over 16,500 lander and 550 rover images, 16 chemical analyses of rocks and soil, and 8.5 million individual temperature, pressure and wind measurements. Path-finder is the best known location on Mars, having been clearly identified with respect to other features on the surface by correlating five prominent horizon features and two small craters in lander images with those in high-resolution orbiter images and in inertial space from two-way ranging and Doppler tracking. Tracking of the lander has fixed the spin pole of Mars, determined the precession rate since Viking 20 years ago, and indicates a polar moment of inertia, which constrains a central metallic core to be between 1300 and ∼2000 km in radius. Dark rocks appear to be high in silica and geochemically similar to anorogenic andesites; lighter rocks are richer in sulfur and lower in silica, consistent with being coated with various amounts of dust. Rover and lander images show rocks with a variety of morphologies, fabrics and textures, suggesting a variety of rock types are present. Rounded pebbles and cobbles on the surface as well as rounded bumps and pits on some rocks indicate these rocks may be conglomerates (although other explanations are also possible), which almost definitely require liquid water to form and a warmer and wetter past. Air-borne dust is composed of composite silicate particles with a small fraction of a highly magnetic mineral, interpreted to be most likely maghemite; explanations suggest iron was dissolved from crustal materials during an active hydrologic cycle with maghemite freeze dried onto silicate dust grains. Remote sensing data at a scale of a kilometer or greater and an Earth analog correctly predicted a rocky plain safe for landing and roving with a variety of rocks deposited by catstrophic floods, which are relatively dust free. The surface appears to have changed little since it formed billions of years ago, with the exception that eolian activity may have deflated the surface by ∼3–7 cm, sculpted wind tails, collected sand into dunes, and eroded ventifacts (fluted and grooved rocks). Pathfinder found a dusty lower atmosphere, early morning water ice clouds, and morning near-surface air temperatures that changed abruptly with time and height. Small scale vortices, interpreted to be dust devils, were observed repeatedly in the afternoon by the meteorology instruments and have been imaged.

Mars Pathfinder atmospheric entry - Trajectory design and dispersion analysis

The Mars Pathfinder spacecraft will enter the Martian atmosphere directly from the interplanetary trajectory, with a velocity of up to 7.35 km/s. The definition of the nominal entry trajectory and the accurate determination of potential trajectory dispersions are necessary for the design of the Pathfinder entry, descent, and landing system. Monte Carlo numerical simulations have been developed to quantify the range of possible entry trajectories and attitude profiles. The entry trajectory requirements and constraints are discussed, and the design approach and uncertainties used in the Monte Carlo analysis are described. Three-degree-of-freedom and six-degree-offreedom trajectory results are compared. The Monte Carlo analysis shows that the Mars Pathfinder parachute will be deployed within the required ranges of dynamic pressure, Mach number, and altitude, over a 3<r range of trajectories. The Pathfinder 3<r landing ellipse is shown to be roughly 50 X 300 km. Nomenclature B - R = component of the 5-plane miss vector along the R axis, km

Design of the ARES Mars Airplane and Mission Architecture

Significant technology advances have enabled planetary aircraft to be considered as viable science platforms. Such systems fill a unique planetary science measurement gap, that of regional-scale, near-surface observation, while providing a fresh perspective for potential discovery. Recent efforts have produced mature mission and flight system concepts, ready for flight project implementation. This paper summarizes the development of a Mars airplane mission architecture that balances science, implementation risk and cost. Airplane mission performance, flight system design and technology maturation are described. The design, analysis and testing completed demonstrates the readiness of this science platform for use in a Mars flight project.

The Mars airplane: a credible science platform

Significant technology advances have enabled planetary aircraft to be considered as viable science platforms. Such systems fill a unique planetary science measurement gap, that of regional-scale, near-surface observation, while providing a fresh perspective for potential discovery. Recent efforts have produced mature mission and flight system concepts, ready for flight project implementation. This work summarizes the development of a Mars airplane mission architecture that balances science, implementation risk and cost. Airplane mission performance, flight system design and technology readiness are described.

Landing site dispersion analysis and statistical assessment for the Mars Phoenix Lander

The Mars Phoenix Lander launched on August 4, 2007 and successfully landed on Mars 10 months later on May 25, 2008. Landing ellipse predicts and hazard maps were key in selecting safe surface targets for Phoenix. Hazard maps were based on terrain slopes, geomorphology maps and automated rock counts of MROs High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images. The expected landing dispersion which led to the selection of Phoenixs surface target is discussed as well as the actual landing dispersion predicts determined during operations in the weeks, days, and hours before landing. A statistical assessment of these dispersions is performed, comparing the actual landing-safety probabilities to criteria levied by the project. Also discussed are applications for this statistical analysis which were used by the Phoenix project. These include using the statistical analysis used to verify the effectiveness of a pre-planned maneuver menu and calculating the probability of future maneuvers.

Aerobraking Cost and Risk Decisions

Four missions have successfully employed aerobraking at Venus and Mars to reduce the spacecraft orbit period and achieve the desired orbit geometry. The propellant mass reductions enabled by the aerobraking technique allow the use of smaller launch systems, which translate to significant savings in launch costs for flight projects. However, there is a significant increase in mission risk associated with the use of aerobraking. Flying a spacecraft through a planetary atmosphere hundreds of times during months of around-the-clock operations places the spacecraft in harms way, and is extraordinarily demanding on the flight team. There is a cost/risk trade that must be evaluated when a project is choosing between a mission baseline that includes aerobraking, or selecting a larger launch vehicle to enable purely propulsive orbit insertion. This paper provides a brief history of past and future aerobraking missions, describes the aerobraking technique, summarizes the costs associated with aerobraking, and concludes with a suggested methodology for evaluating the cost/risk trade when considering the aerobraking approach.

Phoenix Landing Site Hazard Assessment and Selection

The Phoenix Mars Scout landing site hazard assessment and selection process began with a survey of the latitude band from 65–72 N to identify candidate landing regions that were accessible, safe, and suitable for meeting the mission science objectives. Four candidate landing regions were identified based upon proximity of ground ice to the surface. Thermal inertia data, visible imagery, and topographicmapswere combined tomake an initial assessment of rock abundance and slopes. Broadly distributed high-resolution images enabled refined interpretation of the lowerresolution data sets. Based upon this assessment, a broad valley to thewest ofHeimdall crater at 68.3 N, 124.6 Wwas selected as the target landing region for the Phoenix mission. A detailed evaluation of this region resulted in the identification of eight different geologic units, with each unit exhibiting characteristic terrain type and rock abundances. Targeted high-resolution images were acquired across much of the region. An autonomous rockcounting algorithm was used to develop probabilistic risk distributions. Landing ellipse placement was selected to maximize the probability of a safe landing considering rock and slope hazards, including craters. Postlanding images from the Phoenix stereoscopic imager show a landing site generally devoid of hazardous rocks and slopes, consistent with predictions.

Aeroacoustics of Advanced STOVL Aircraft Plumes

This paper summarizes a basic and well-controlled experimental study involving flow visualization and noise measurements to define the acoustic and flow fields of single plumes impinging on a simulated ground plane. The flow visualization was made by strobing a laser light source at the discrete frequencies generated by the impingement of the jets and measured by a nearfield microphone. This enabled visualization of instability waves generated by the interaction between the plumes and the sound generated during impingement, and also by dynamic coupling between the two plumes. These data were acquired as a function of distance between the ground and the nozzle exit. Nearfield acoustic data were acquired simultaneously. Data for nozzle diameters of 0.265 in. and 0.4 in. are described. For selected nozzles, effects of exit boundary layer characteristics and nozzle protrusion through a simulated aircraft body are also presented.

Dynamics of Extra-Vehicular Activities in Low-Gravity Surface Environments

Human spaceflight experience in extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is limited to two regimes: the micro-gravity environment of Earth orbit, and the lunar surface environment at one-sixth of Earth’s gravity. Future human missions to low-gravity bodies, including asteroids, comets, and the moons of Mars, will require EVA techniques that are beyond the current experience base. In order to develop robust approaches for exploring these small bodies, the dynamics associated with human exploration on low-gravity surface must be characterized. This paper examines the translational and rotational motion of an astronaut on the surface of a small body, and it is shown that the low-gravity environment will pose challenges to the surface mobility of an astronaut, unless new tools and EVA techniques are developed. Possibilities for addressing these challenges are explored, and utilization of the International Space Station to test operational concepts and hardware in preparation for a low-gravity surface EVA is discussed.

Landing Site Dispersion Analysis and Statistical Assessment for the Mars Phoenix Lander

The Mars Phoenix Lander launched on August 4, 2007 and successfully landed on Mars 10 months later on May 25, 2008. Landing ellipse predicts and hazard maps were key in selecting safe surface targets for Phoenix. Hazard maps were based on terrain slopes, geomorphology maps and automated rock counts of MRO’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images. The expected landing dispersion which led to the selection of Phoenix’s surface target is discussed as well as the actual landing dispersion predicts determined during operations in the weeks, days, and hours before landing. A statistical assessment of these dispersions is performed, comparing the actual landing-safety probabilities to criteria levied by the project. Also discussed are applications for this statistical analysis which were used by the Phoenix project. These include using the statistical analysis used to verify the effectiveness of a pre-planned maneuver menu and calculating the probability of future maneuvers.