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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2008

Enhanced Reporting of Mars Exploration Rover Telemetry

Mars Exploration Rover Enhanced Telemetry Extraction and Reporting System (METERS) is software that generates a human-readable representation of the state of the mobility and arm-related systems of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) vehicles on each Martian solar day (sol). Data are received from the MER spacecraft in multiple streams having various formats including text messages, sparsely-sampled engineering quantities, images, and individual motor-command histories.

Maimone, Mark W.↗
NASA NTRS2001

The use of harmonic drives on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission will send two 185 kg rovers to Mars in 2003 to continue the scientific community's search for evidence of past water on Mars. These twin robotic vehicles will carry harmonic drives and their performance will be characterized at various temperatures, speeds and loads.

harmonic drive↗
NASA NTRS2005

Results of the Alpha-Particle-X-Ray Spectrometer on Board of the Mars Exploration Rovers

The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed at Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) is part of the instrument suite on both rovers. It is equipped with six 244Cm sources which provide x-ray excitation with alpha-particles (PIXE) and x-ray radiation (XRF). This combination allows x-ray spectroscopy of elements from Na to Br in the energy range of 0.9 to 16 keV. X-ray detectors with a high energy resolution of 160 eV at Fe K allow us to separate even closely spaced energy peaks, such as Na, Mg, Al and Si. The APXS is attached to the rover s arm and provides in-situ measurements of the chemical composition of soils, surfaces of rocks and outcrops and their abraded surfaces. This abstract gives an overview of APXS results obtained during the first year of operation on both landing sites.

Geller, R.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Field Studies of Crater Gradation in Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum Using the Mars Exploration Rovers

The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity investigated numerous craters since landing in Gusev crater (14.569degS, 175.473degE) and Meridiani Planum (1.946degS, 354.473degE) over the first 400 sols of their missions [1-4]. Craters at both sites are simple structures and vary in size and preservation state. Comparing observed and expected pristine morphology and using process-specific gradational signatures around terrestrial craters as a template [5-7] allows distinguishing gradation processes whose relative importance fundamentally differs from those responsible for most crater modification on the Earth.

Grant, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Genotypic & Phenotypic Diversity of Microbial Isolates from the Mars Exploration Rovers

Mars-bound rovers such as the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) endure strict planetary protection implementation campaigns to assess bioburden. The objective of this study is to identify cultivable microorganisms isolated by the NASA Standard Assay from spacecraft during pre-launch and evaluate their potential to survive conditions on the Martian surface. Of approximately 350 isolates collected from the MER spacecraft archive, 171 microorganisms were reconstituted for characterization via 16S rRNA fingerprinting. Alignment of 16S sequences revealed high levels of sequence similarity to spore-forming species, overwhelmingly of the genera Bacillus (73.7%) and Paenibacillus (14.0%). Samples underwent phenotype characterization employing multiple carbon sources and ion concentrations in an automated microarray format using the Omnilog system. Working and stock cultures were prepared to address the immediate needs for day-to-day culture utilization and long-term preservation, respectively. Results from this study produced details about the microbes that contaminate surfaces of spacecraft, as well as a preliminary evaluation of a rapid biochemical ID method that also provides a phenotypic assessment of contaminants. The overall outcome of this study will benefit emerging cleaning and sterilization technologies for preventing forward contamination that could negatively impact future life detection or sample return missions.

Mars Exploration Rovers↗
NASA NTRS2005

Dynamic Dust Accumulation and Dust Removal Observed on the Mars Exploration Rover Magnets

The Mars Exploration Rovers each carry a set of Magnetic Properties Experiments designed to investigate the properties of the airborne dust in the Martian atmosphere. It is a preferred interpretation of previous experiments that the airborne dust in the Martian atmosphere is primarily composed by composite silicate particles containing one or more highly magnetic minerals as a minor constituent. The ultimate goal of the magnetic properties experiments on the Mars Exploration Rover mission is to provide some information/ constraints on whether the dust is formed by volcanic, meteoritic, aqueous, or other processes. The first problem is to identify the magnetic mineral(s) in the airborne dust on Mars. While the overall results of the magnetic properties experiments are presented in, this abstract will focus on dust deposition and dust removal on some of the magnets.

Bertelsen, P.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Mission design for the Mars Exploration Rover mission

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) project, will conduct fundamentally new observations of Mars geology, including the first micro-scale study of rock samples, as well as a detailed study of surface environments for the purpose of calibrating and validating orbital remote sensing data.

Mars Exploration Rover mission design↗
NASA NTRS2008

Mars Exploration Rovers: 4 Years on Mars

This January, the Mars Exploration Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" are starting their fifth year of exploring the surface of Mars, well over ten times their nominal 90-day design lifetime. This lecture discusses the Mars Exploration Rovers, presents the current mission status for the extended mission, some of the most results from the mission and how it is affecting our current view of Mars, and briefly presents the plans for the coming NASA missions to the surface of Mars and concepts for exploration with robots and humans into the next decade, and beyond.

Landis, Geoffrey A.↗
NASA NTRS2004

A Martian Telecommunications Network: UHF Relay Support of the Mars Exploration Rovers by the Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Express Orbiters

NASA and ESA have established an international network of Mars orbiters, outfitted with relay communications payloads, to support robotic exploration of the red planet. Starting in January, 2004, this network has provided the Mars Exploration Rovers with telecommunications relay services, significantly increasing rover engineering and science data return while enhancing mission robustness and operability. Augmenting the data return capabilities of their X-band direct-to-Earth links, the rovers are equipped with UHF transceivers allowing data to be relayed at high rate to the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Mars Odyssey, and Mars Express orbiters. As of 21 July, 2004, over 50 Gbits of MER data have been obtained, with nearly 95% of that data returned via the MGS and Odyssey UHF relay paths, allowing a large increase in science return from the Martian surface relative to the X-band direct-to-Earth link. The MGS spacecraft also supported high-rate UHF communications of MER engineering telemetry during the critical period of entry, descent, and landing (EDL), augmenting the very low-rate EDL data collected on the X-band direct-to-Earth link. Through adoption of the new CCSDS Proximity-1 Link Protocol, NASA and ESA have achieved interoperability among these Mars assets, as validated by a successful relay demonstration between Spirit and Mars Express, enabling future interagency cross-support and establishing a truly international relay network at Mars.

telecommunications↗
NASA NTRS2003

Entry Trajectory and Atmosphere Reconstruction Methodologies for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission will land two landers on the surface of Mars, arriving in January 2004. Both landers will deliver the rovers to the surface by decelerating with the aid of an aeroshell, a supersonic parachute, retro-rockets, and air bags for safely landing on the surface. The reconstruction of the MER descent trajectory and atmosphere profile will be performed for all the phases from hypersonic flight through landing. A description of multiple methodologies for the flight reconstruction is presented from simple parameter identification methods through a statistical Kalman filter approach.

Desai, Prasun N.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Electronics for Mars Exploration Rover and beyond

Mars exploration seeks to understand the potential for life elsewhere in the universe; characterize the present and past climate and climate processes; understand geological processes affecting Mars' interior, crust, and surface; and, develop the knowledge and technology necessary for eventual human exploration. The design of a Mars Exploration rover is discussed, in particular it electronic components. The avionics development activities for the subsystem and hardware functionality are outlined. The functions and interfaces of the Rover Electronics Module, Cruise Electronics Module, and Lander Electronics Module are highlighted.

avionics↗
NASA NTRS2004

In-flight propulsion system characterization for both Mars Exploration Rover Spacecraft

Two Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft were dispensed to red planet in 2003, culminating in a phenomenally successful prime science mission. Twin cruise stage propulsion systems were developed in record time, largely through heritage with Mars Pathfinder. As expected, consumable usage was minimal during the short seven-month cruise for both spacecraft. Propellant usage models based on pressure and temperature agreed with throughput models with in a few percent. Trajectory correction maneuver performance was nominal, allowing the cancellation of near-Mars maneuvers. Spin thruster delivered impulse was 10-12% high vs. ground based models for the intial spin-down maneuvers, while turn performance was XX-XX% high/low vs. expectations. No clear indications for pressure transducer drift were noted during the brief MER missions.

maneuvers↗
NASA NTRS2010

Principal Components Analysis of Reflectance Spectra Returned by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity

The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has spent over six years exploring the Martian surface near its landing site at Meridiani Planum. Meridiani bedrock observed by the rover is largely characterized by sulfate-rich sandstones and hematite spherules, recording evidence of ancient aqueous environments [1]. The region is a deflationary surface, allowing hematite spherules, fragments of bedrock, and "cobbles" of foreign origin to collect loosely on the surface. These cobbles may be meteorites (e.g., Barberton, Heat Shield Rock, Santa Catarina) [2], or rock fragments of exotic composition derived from adjacent terranes or from the subsurface and delivered to Meridiani Planum as impact ejecta [3]. The cobbles provide a way to better understand Martian meteorites and the lithologic diversity of Meridiani Planum by examining the various rock types located there. In the summer of 2007, a global dust storm on Mars effectively disabled Opportunity's Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES), which served as the Athena Science Team s primary tool for remotely identifying rocks of interest on a tactical timescale for efficient rover planning. While efforts are ongoing to recover use of the Mini-TES, the team is currently limited to identifying rocks of interest by visual inspection of images returned from Opportunity's Panoramic Camera (Pancam). This study builds off of previous efforts to characterize cobbles at Meridiani Planum using a database of reflectance spectra extracted from Pancam 13-Filter (13F) images [3]. We analyzed the variability of rock spectra in this database and identified physical characteristics of Martian rocks that could potentially account for the observed variance. By understanding such trends, we may be able to distinguish between rock types at Meridiani Planum and regain the capability to remotely identify locally unique rocks.

Mercer, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Deployment Process, Mechanization, and Testing for the Mars Exploration Rovers

NASA's Mar Exploration Rover (MER) robotic prospectors were produced in an environment of unusually challenging schedule, volume, and mass restrictions. The technical challenges pushed the system s design towards extensive integration of function, which resulted in complex system engineering issues. One example of the system's integrated complexity can be found in the deployment process for the rover. Part of this process, rover "standup", is outlined in this paper. Particular attention is given to the Rover Lift Mechanism's (RLM) role and its design. Analysis methods are presented and compared to test results. It is shown that because prudent design principles were followed, a robust mechanism was created that minimized the duration of integration and test, and enabled recovery without perturbing related systems when reasonably foreseeable problems did occur. Examples of avoidable, unnecessary difficulty are also presented.

Iskenderian, Ted↗
NASA NTRS2004

Activity Planning for the Mars Exploration Rovers

Operating the Mars Exploration Rovers is a challenging, time-pressured task. Each day, the operations team must generate a new plan describing the rover activities for the next day. These plans must abide by resource limitations, safety rules, and temporal constraints. The objective is to achieve as much science as possible, choosing from a set of observation requests that oversubscribe rover resources. In order to accomplish this objective, given the short amount of planning time available, the MAPGEN (Mixed-initiative Activity Plan GENerator) system was made a mission-critical part of the ground operations system. MAPGEN is a mixed-initiative system that employs automated constraint-based planning, scheduling, and temporal reasoning to assist operations staff in generating the daily activity plans. This paper describes the adaptation of constraint-based planning and temporal reasoning to a mixed-initiative setting and the key technical solutions developed for the mission deployment of MAPGEN.

Bresina, John L.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Attitude and position estimation on the Mars Exploration Rovers

NASA/JPL 's Mars Exploration Rovers acquire their attitude upon command and autonomously propagate their attitude and position. The rovers use accelerometers and images of the sun to acquire attitude, autonomously searching the sky for the sun with a pointable camera. To propagate the attitude and position the rovers use either accelerometer and gyro readings or gyro readings and wheel odometiy, depending on the nature of the movement ground operators are commanding. Where necessary, visual odometry is performed on images to fine tune the position updates, particularly in high slip environments. The capability also exists for visual odometry attitude updates. This paper describes the techniques used by the rovers to acquire and maintain attitude and position knowledge, the accuracy which is obtainable, and lessons learned after more than one year in operation.

attitude estimation↗
NASA NTRS2004

Deployment process, mechanization, and testing for the Mars Exploration Rovers

NASA’s Mar Exploration Rover (MER) robotic prospectors were produced in an environment of unusually challenging schedule, volume, and mass restrictions. The technical challenges pushed the system’s design towards extensive integration of function, which resulted in complex system engineering issues. One example of the system’s integrated complexity can be found in the deployment process for the rover. Part of this process, rover “standup”, is outlined in this paper. Particular attention is given to the Rover Lift Mechanism’s (RLM) role and its design. Analysis methods are presented and compared to test results. It is shown that because prudent design principles were followed, a robust mechanism was created that minimized the duration of integration and test, and enabled recovery without perturbing related systems when reasonably foreseeable problems did occur. Examples of avoidable, unnecessary difficulty are also presented.

Iskenderian, Ted C.↗