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The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission utilizes the Mars Pathfinder (MPF) parachute design. The MPF parachute drag coefficient is a driver for the MER entry, descent, and landing (EDL) design. As a result, a good estimate of the performance of the MPF parachute at Mars is required.
This document provides a common set of astrodynamic constants and planetary models for use by the Mars pathfinder Project. It attempts to collect in a single reference all the quantities and models in use across the project during development and for mission operations.
The Mars Pathfinder (MPF) spacecraft, launched in December 1996, is the second launch in NASA's Discovery program.
The Mars Pathfinder (MPF) spacecraft (S/C), launched in December 1996, is the second mission in NASA's Discovery Program. The MPF mission is primarily an engineering demonstration of key technologies and concepts for eventual use in future missions to Mars.
Doppler and range measurements to the Mars Pathfinder lander, made with its radio communications system, have been combined with similar measurements from the viking landers to estimate improved values of the precession of Mars' pole of rotation and the variation in Mars's rotation rate.
The first landing on Mars in over 20 years will take place July 4, 1997, near te mouth of the Ares Vallis outflow channel located in southeastern Chryse Planitia. Mars Pathfinder, unlike Viking 1, is expected to land on a surface that has a distinct and unambiguous fluvial signature.
Over 20 years have passed since NASA's Viking landers traveled to the surface of Mars. But now NASA is returning, in fact, it's already on the way with one of NASA's faster, better, cheaper missions known as Mars Pathfinder. This mission was developed in 3 years for $171 million dollars and is focused on engineering, science, and technology objectives.
Sojourner, the pathfinder rover, has discovered pebbles on the surface and in rocks that may be semidentary-not volcanic-in origin. Surface pebbles may have been rounded by Ares Flood Waters or liberated by weathering of sedimentary rocks called conglomerates.
The Mars Pathfinder lander uses a novel airbag impact attenuation system to perform its landing on Mars... this paper will discuss the design of the airbags, the testing techniques used and the lessons learned from the tests.
The Mars Pathfinder mission, scheduled for launch in December 1996, will use an airbag system to safely deliver a lander to the Martian surface.The airbag landing system has undergone a comprehensive test program during its evolution from initial design phase to final qualification and acceptance testing. This paper outlines the test approach used in the airbag development program, describes the data acquisition system used to obtain and evaluate airbag performance data, and presents test results.
During the 1995 Mars opposition, Earth-based radars had a favorable angle for viewing many of the possible landing sites for Mars Pathfinder. The Goldstone 70-m antenna was used at X-band (3.5 cm) to get a measure of roughness to nearly that size.
Mars Pathfinder, launching in December 1996 and landing on Mars on July 4, 1997, will demonstrate a low-cost delivery system to the surface of Mars for follow-on landers. Objectives are the return of engineering data, panoramic images of the Martian surface, microrover experiments, etc. A technical mission description is included.
The Mars Pathfinder Project is being developed by the U.S. (NASA) to demonstrate new technologies for landing on Mars, and to conduct focused, but significant scientific observations.
The Web Interface for Telescience (WITS) is an Internet-based tool that the Mars Pathfinder mission used for both mission operations at JPL and public outreach.
Immersive environments are just beginning to be used to support mission operations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This technology contributed to the Mars Pathfinder Mission in planning sorties for the Sojourner rover.
A viewgraph presentation describing the Earth System Science Pathfinder Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) Mission is shown. The contents include: 1) Why CO2?; 2) What Processes Control CO2 Sinks?; 3) OCO Science Team; 4) Space-Based Measurements of CO2; 5) Driving Requirement: Precise, Bias-Free Global Measurements; 6) Making Precise CO2 Measurements from Space; 7) OCO Spatial Sampling Strategy; 8) OCO Observing Modes; 9) Implementation Approach; 10) The OCO Instrument; 11) The OCO Spacecraft; 12) OCO Will Fly in the A-Train; 13) Validation Program Ensures Accuracy and Minimizes Spatially Coherent Biases; 14) Can OCO Provide the Required Precision?; 15) O2 Column Retrievals with Ground-based FTS; 16) X(sub CO2) Retrieval Simulations; 17) Impact of Albedo and Aerosol Uncertainty on X(sub CO2) Retrievals; 18) Carbon Cycle Modeling Studies: Seasonal Cycle; 19) Carbon Cycle Modeling Studies: The North-South Gradient in CO2; 20) Carbon Cycle Modeling Studies: Effect of Diurnal Biases; 21) Project Status and Schedule; and 22) Summary.
The Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, scheduled for launch in December 1996, is designed to validate a low cost Entry, Descent, and Landing system and to perform scientific surface operations. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories teamed to design, fabricate, test and validate a prototype 0.38 scale model of an airbag impact attenuation system. A computer code was developed to predict the performance of the airbag system. A test program in Sandia's High Altitude Chamber was performed to validate the code and demonstrate the feasibility of the airbag concept and design. In addition, freefall tests were performed at representative velocities to demonstrate the structural integrity of the airbag system design. The feasibility program demonstrated that the airbag impact attenuation design will protect the lander upon impact with the Martian surface.
Two important gatherings of the space-based gravitational-wave detector community were held in Zurich, Switzerland this past March. The first was a meeting of the Science Working Team for LISA Pathfinder (LPF), a dedicated technology demonstrator mission for a future LISA-like gravitational wave observatory. LPF is entering an extremely exciting phase with launch less than 15 months away. All flight components for both the European science payload, known as the LISA Technology Package (LTP), and the NASA science payload, known as the Space Technology 7 Disturbance Reduction System (ST7-DRS), have been delivered and are undergoing integration. The final flight component for the spacecraft bus, a cold-gas thruster based on the successful GAIA design, will be delivered later this year. Current focus is on completing integration of the science payload (see Figures 1 and 2) and preparation for operations and data analysis. After a launch in Summer 2015, LPF will take approximately 90 days to reach its operational orbit around the Earth-Sun Lagrange point (L1), where it will begin science operations. After 90 days of LTP operations followed by 90 days of DRS operations, LPF will have completed its prime mission of paving the way for a space-based observatory of gravitational waves in the milliHertz band. Immediately following the meeting of the LPF team, the eLISA consortium held its third progress meeting. The consortium (www.elisascience.org) is the organizing body of the European space-based gravitational-wave community, and it was responsible for the "The Gravitational Universe" whitepaper that resulted in the November 2013 election of a gravitational-wave science theme for ESA's Cosmic Visions L3 opportunity. In preparation for an L3 mission concept call, which is expected later this decade, and for launch in the mid 2030s, the eLISA consortium members are coordinating technology development and mission study activities which will build on the LPF results. The final mission concept is expected to include some international (non-European) contributions, and NASA has expressed an interest in participating in this ground-breaking mission. The US research community supports such a collaboration, or any other mission scenario that achieves the high-priority science of a space-based gravitational-wave observatory at the earliest possible date.