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george.leopold
That's one possibility that JPL engineers are looking into. The bottom line is ...
Sanjib.Acharya
Great pictures! The impression of the rover's wheels looks like an impression on ...
Updated: Curiosity ready to roll despite sensor damage
George Leopold
8/21/2012 8:17 PM EDT
WASHINGTON – A damaged wind sensor is the first setback for the otherwise nearly flawless mission of the Mars Curiosity rover.
NASA managers believe one of two “mini-booms” containing sensors to track weather conditions at Gale Crater might have been damaged during the Aug. 6 descent and landing. The finger-like mini-boom extended out from the rover’s folded mast during landing. Initial investigations found pebbles and small rocks on the rover’s deck after landing, presumably part of the rocket plume created as a sky crane lowered the rover to the surface of Mars.
While evidence about the damage remains “circumstantial,” Ashwin Vasavada, MSL deputy project scientist, said Tuesday (Aug. 21) that delicate wires on circuit boards that make up the wind sensor were likely damaged by swirling dust and pebbles. However, another inward-facing weather sensor is “operating perfectly,” said Javier Gomez-Elvira, principal investigator for the weather sensor, the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, or REMS.
A NASA engineer's hands are just below one of the REMS mini-booms in this image. The other mini-boom extends to the left a little farther up the mast. One of the booms facing outward during Curiosity's landing on Mars is believed to have damage by pebbles kicked up by rocket thrusters. (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Since Curiosity carries redundant REMS mini-booms, Vasavada said the loss of the second sensor will result in “just a little bit of ambiguity in terms of wind direction.” He added that the damage is one of the risk scientists understood when they mounted delicate scientific instruments on the rover.
Meanwhile, nearly every other aspect of the Mars mission is performing flawlessly, NASA managers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported. A “wheel wiggle” test of the rovers four steering wheels on Monday (Aug. 20) went off without a hitch, and controllers will send commands overnight Tuesday for Curiosity to make its first short drive: about 3 meters forward (the length of the rover), stop and execute a 120-degree turn to the right, then back up far enough to see the rover’s footprint on Mars when it landed.
The test drive should take about 30 minutes if all goes as planned, said Mars Science Laboratory mission manager Michael Watkins.
Louise Jandura, the lead engineer for Curiosity’s surface sampling equipment, said the rover’s robotics arm was deployed earlier this week and all five joints were tested for basic motions. The next step is calibrating the arm to operate in the lower gravity of Mars. A Swiss Army knife-like suite of instruments at the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm, including a drill to take core samples, weighs about 30 kg, Jandura said.
Curiosity rover's first tracks on Mars (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Curiosity rover tracks from above. Blast scour from landing rocket thruster can be seen at top of image. Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
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DrQuine
8/21/2012 11:32 PM EDT
One immediate success of the Curiosity project is a renewed interest in and awareness of our space program. I recall the Viking lander image of sunset on Mars as the cover image of "Science" magazine in 1976 and the reports of Spirit and Opportunity over the past few years. It is wonderful to have science in the news again.
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goafrit
8/22/2012 2:50 AM EDT
I agree that it has rekindled the interest of the space exploration.
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george.leopold
8/22/2012 9:17 AM EDT
It is wonderful to be writing about it again.
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andyzg
8/22/2012 3:36 AM EDT
pictures of equipment built by scientists (for space) often surprise me: open or even loose cables, open electronics, generally a messy appearance. one would think it is for saving weight, but then there are sometimes mechanical elements that are so sturdy that one can not imagine that is needed given that the electronics mounted on it is so brittle. does anyone else see this as well?
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george.leopold
8/22/2012 9:16 AM EDT
Yes, the NASA scientists who now realize they should have shielded the wind sensor mini-boom that was damaged. The upside is two wind sensors were installed, so NASA retains the capability. Still, it's odd that no one noticed that, even in the robotic arm's stowed position during descent, that one of the mini-booms was exposed to blowing dust and pebbles.
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nicolas.mokhoff
8/22/2012 10:41 AM EDT
You would think that blowing dust and pebbles could be simulated and emulated in a desert around JPL. But then space missions are intrinsically a first-shot deal; you can't make a do-over. It's to good to see dollars for design redundancy and reliability put to good use.
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scanman
8/22/2012 1:00 PM EDT
What amazing feet... hats off to American technological innovation and ingenuity. Brings back to memory the days when I worked at JPL during the Voyager sojourns around Jupiter(the space craft used plated memories!!). We used to crowd around the JPL cafeteria monitors watching live images of the Jupiter with the rings( looked like big mac) and the moons ( of course it took ~30 minutes transmission time from Jupiter). Those were the days... I am glad we are back in that zone again.
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george.leopold
8/22/2012 2:10 PM EDT
Did any JPL mission controllers have mohawks back then?
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scanman
8/22/2012 6:57 PM EDT
No, most were clean cut, (not the 60's style, but the 80's) and some hippy style hairdo!
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Sanjib.Acharya
8/22/2012 1:02 PM EDT
It will be very interesting to see the picture of Curiosity's foot print where it landed. Is that footprint still intact and not covered with dust?...hope not. :-)
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george.leopold
8/22/2012 2:50 PM EDT
NASA/JPL confirms today (Aug. 22) that first Rover test drive was a success. Rover tracks now visible at Gale Crater landing site.
We will post a link to first pictures shortly.
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george.leopold
8/22/2012 3:00 PM EDT
See Curiosity's first tracks on Mars here:
https://twitter.com/tweetsoutloud/status/238340410248921088/photo/1/large
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przemek
8/23/2012 11:13 AM EDT
Note just above-right of the center of the image that there's a pattern on the tire that impresses on the track---apparently it is Morse code for JPL.
Just another little geek in-joke from NASA.
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Sanjib.Acharya
8/23/2012 12:02 PM EDT
Great pictures! The impression of the rover's wheels looks like an impression on mud or moist Martian soil...isn't it? I imagined that the marks would look like the impressions on sand.
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prabhakar_deosthali
8/23/2012 12:12 AM EDT
This unexpected damage to the wind sensor must have been because of the low gravity on the mars compared to that on earth. So the pebbles got lifted much more than expected by the rocket thrust and hit the wind sensor
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george.leopold
8/23/2012 1:22 PM EDT
That's one possibility that JPL engineers are looking into. The bottom line is that they now realize they should have shielded the mini-boom that was exposed on Curiosity's deck during landing. So far, this is one of the few engineering details that they missed. And this is why you include redundant systems.
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