The next generation Mars rover, named Curiosity, is scheduled to launch later this year. Construction is nearing the final phases and lots of tests are being conducted on Curiosity. The latest test is a test of the landing system. JPL released a short video of the test.
Curiosity can't use the airbag system of previous rovers as it is too big and heavy, hence the sky crane concept. Curiosity will be the first spacecraft to use this system so the testing has to be rigorous. You can see from the video, a platform has small rockets on it that hovers while the rover is lowered to the surface. The rockets won't be able to make this craft hover for long since they carry very limited fuel so they only get one shot at it. Everything has to work perfectly the first time without intervention from us on Earth (Mars is much too far away...round trip light travel time varies from about 8 minutes to over 20 minutes depending on their positions in their respective orbits).
If you want to watch curiosity under construction, JPL has a "Curiosity Cam".Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.
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2 comments:
Amazing. So Curiosity has to quickly get away from the landing spot so that the "sky crane" doesn't fall on it when it runs out of fuel?
It's always been amazing to me, the space flights and visits to other planets. Such distances, and, as you say, only one chance to get it right.
What if all the money spent on war had been spent on science instead?
It works the other way. Curiosity's top speed is not even as a brisk walk, so they give the sky crane a blast with its thrusters to get it to clear out.
I think NASA gets a little nervous trying these new things...I know I would!
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