Why NASA Is Trying to Crash Land on Mars HEAD TOPICS
Why NASA Is Trying to Crash Land on Mars
10/22/2022 2:42:00 AM Why NASA Is Trying to Crash Land on Mars - by @spacewriter
Source Universe Today
Why NASA Is Trying to Crash Land on Mars - by spacewriter Landing a vehicle on Mars using a crumple-friendly bumper sounds risky, but NASA engineers think crash landings are doable. Why crash-land a spacecraft on the Red Planet? NASA has a great track record of sending amazing spacecraft to Mars using parachutes, airbags, and jetpacks that help a lander get down safely. But those are expensive and complex. A crash landing is actually fairly inexpensive and a pretty easy way to get a spacecraft settled onto the landscape. The only problem is, it’s dangerous and risky, and you end up with a RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly). So, what if you could do a crash landing and NOT disassemble the lander? A carefully managed crash landing would certainly bring down the costs quite a bit. First, it would change the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) profile. And, if it’s managed well, a crash lander could go to places that are a bit riskier to visit. That’s according to SHIELD project manager Lou Giersch. “We think we could go to more treacherous areas, where we wouldn’t want to risk trying to place a billion-dollar rover with our current landing systems,” he said. “Maybe we could even land several of these at different difficult-to-access locations to build a network.” Read more:
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The US power grid is at risk; leftist activists '...don't want anything built,' says Congressman Dan Crenshaw of the obstacles facing the implementation of t... Read more >> NASA is testing ways to crash land on Mars Digital TrendsNASA’s Mars team is testing a new method of getting equipment onto the martian surface -- using a deliberate crash landing. Early Life on Mars Might Have Wiped Out Life on MarsIf tiny methanogens lived on ancient Mars, they could've planted the seed of their own demise, according to a new study. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity reaches intriguing salty site after treacherous journeyRobert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. 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Was it Left Over From a Dying Sea?The Curiosity rover has now reached its primary target on Mount Sharp on Mars, the mountain in the middle of Gale Crater the rover has been climbing since 2014. This target is not the summit, but a region over 600 meters (2,000 feet) up the mountain that planetary geologists have long anticipated reaching. Known as … Continue reading 'Curiosity Arrives in a Salty Region of Mars. Was it Left Over From a Dying Sea?' Get the ad-free experience for life Why crash-land a spacecraft on the Red Planet? NASA has a great track record of sending amazing spacecraft to Mars using parachutes, airbags, and jetpacks that help a lander get down safely.To get machines onto Mars, NASA has been deploying various landing methods that over the years have included air bags, parachutes, and jetpacks.live in places like hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, where they convert chemical energy from their environment and release methane as a waste product.climate changed from being similar to Earth's to the frozen, barren desert that Curiosity explores today. But those are expensive and complex. A crash landing is actually fairly inexpensive and a pretty easy way to get a spacecraft settled onto the landscape. Now, the Mars team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California is testing a fourth method of getting apparatus onto the martian surface — using a deliberate crash landing. The only problem is, it’s dangerous and risky, and you end up with a RUD (rapid unscheduled disassembly). ” It’s published in Nature Astronomy, and the senior authors are Regis Ferrière and Boris Sauterey. So, what if you could do a crash landing and NOT disassemble the lander? A carefully managed crash landing would certainly bring down the costs quite a bit. NASA Tests Ways to Crash Land on Mars As you can see in the footage, SHIELD uses a collapsible, accordion-like base to absorb the energy of a hard landing. First, it would change the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) profile."The lack of scratch marks or indentations was an indication that it may prove difficult to drill. And, if it’s managed well, a crash lander could go to places that are a bit riskier to visit. To fully test the integrity of the design, SHIELD landed on a steel plate to ensure the impact was even harder than what it would experience on Mars. However, the authors are clear that they’re not saying that life definitely existed on the planet. That’s according to SHIELD project manager Lou Giersch. “We think we could go to more treacherous areas, where we wouldn’t want to risk trying to place a billion-dollar rover with our current landing systems,” he said. But to the team’s delight, the components inside SHIELD, which included a smartphone, remained intact. “Maybe we could even land several of these at different difficult-to-access locations to build a network. These early organisms lived underground, away from deadly UV radiation and cosmic rays.” Testing a Crash Landing on Mars Okay, so if there’s a NASA engineering team thinking about this, how would it work? Think about what needs to be protected on the spacecraft: electronics and instruments. As JPL continues to test and refine SHIELD, hopefully it won’t be too long before we hear about a Mars mission that plans to deploy the device for real. 23, 2022. Those are the guts of any mission. Without them, any lander is dead in the dust on Mars. Gill. So, NASA engineers thought about sensitive instrumentation like car engineers would think about people in cars. They planned a test in a drop tower at JPL, using instrumental “crash test dummies” surrounded by SHIELD’s collapsible attenuator—essentially it’s like a car’s crumple zone low-crash-speed bumper. Then, they raised it to the top of the tower and slammed it into the ground at about 177 km per hour. The researchers focused on hydrogenotrophic methanogens, which take in H 2 and CO 2 and produce methane as waste. As the team carefully navigated this path, they were rewarded with some stunning images from Curiosity's Mastcam, particularly a panorama of the region captured on Aug. That’s roughly the speed a Mars lander travels after atmospheric drag slows it down during EDL. The onboard accelerometer measured the impact and found it had a force of about 1 million newtons. That’s comparable to 112 tons smashing against the target. Until now. So, what happened? Did it work? The SHIELD impacted the target and then bounced about a meter into the air. Then it flipped over. And the cliffs were beautiful — we got really close to the walls. Once the dust settled, the engineering team opened up the payload and inspected the electronic payload (which included a smartphone). But on Mars, it was abundant in the planet’s atmosphere. The good news is: everything important survived. A few small plastic pieces were broken, but the proof of concept succeeded. The next step will be, as always, more testing. “We think Mars may have been a little cooler than Earth at the time, but not nearly as cold as it is now, with average temperatures hovering most likely above the freezing point of water,” he said. It could be a while before scientists trust an entire spacecraft to this SHIELD. However, in the future, it could well provide affordable and fast access to Mars. That’s especially good news for planetary scientists who want to explore some dicier places that are too risky for the more expensive and complex types of rovers they’re currently using. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Testing a crash landing for a future Mars lander. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech For More Information .