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Like any travelers worth their frequent flyer miles, the twin rovers of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission must prepare for a long journey. Unlike airline passengers, however, the rovers won't have an attentive flight crew to tend to their needs. Instead, the twins face a daunting 460 million kilometer (286 million mile) voyage to Mars.
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Howard is JPL's own bionic woman who, at the moment, is helping develop an advanced Entry, Descent and Landing software application that can look at virtual terrain on Mars.
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Just as a toddler uses a set of blocks to build a structure, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., design conceptual space missions using a set of "blocks," each representing a different segment of requirements, to make sure that all aspects of a mission mesh with the final design.
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As an automobile ages, it usually requires more trips to a mechanic. Spacecraft are designed for a primary mission; when all is going well, the mission is often extended to obtain more data for other research objectives. But spacecraft are also subject to the ravages of time and wear.
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NASA and JPL are sending RATS to Mars to work as field geologists. A RAT is not quite a furry little friend, but rather a high-tech robot with diamond teeth, called a Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT).
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Just one of the many problems in landing on another planet, after it's been determined where to land and the method to get there, is landing safely. For NASA'a Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a safe landing is "the name of the game," as engineers work to prepare two rovers for the journey to Mars.
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Caught unawares, Odyssey lead navigator Bob Mase mumbled "what?" when Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Office of Space Science announced that Mase and the Odyssey navigation team had won one of Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine's annual Laurel awards.
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After spending a career in planetary exploration, Charley Kohlhase dreams not of the past, but of the future. What does he envision someday? Humans living on Mars, continuing to study the planet in great detail. Of course, NASA has a lot of work to do before human missions are possible, but today's robotic missions are paving the way by helping us understand the Martian environment and its potential impact on human health. Once we learn more, Kohlhase believes, the spirit of exploration will make Mars an irresistible destination for future astronauts.
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Intense discussion, various viewpoints, chairs being scooted around, slightly raised voices, and eventual consensus: just a typical meeting of scientists in the lab; in this case a rover lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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No banks, stock exchanges or other financial institutions are known to exist on Mars. So how does a business and economics graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara end up in a key role on a mission to the red planet?
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With the successful completion of the aerobraking effort, the Odyssey navigation team is leaving a legacy of well-honed interdisciplinary tools and techniques certain to be used on future missions using aerobraking.
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