India’s first Martian orbiter, Mangalyaan, successfully fired its engines today to leave Earth orbit and head to Mars.
India’s first Martian orbiter, Mangalyaan, successfully fired its engines today to leave Earth orbit and head to Mars.
Tag: Mars
Cuirosity has resumed science operations after experiencing a short circuit and voltage drop.
Cuirosity has resumed science operations after experiencing a short circuit and voltage drop.
Though the press release notes that engineers have apparently pinpointed the source of the voltage drop, it does not explain why the drop has disappeared. I wish they provided more information.
India’s Mangalyaan Mars probe has returned its first image, a picture of Earth.
India’s Mangalyaan Mars probe has returned its first image, a picture of India on Earth.
Though you can always learn something from any image, what is significant here is that before even leaving Earth orbit engineers have proven that the spacecraft’s camera works.
Dennis Tito’s project to launch a manned fly-by of Mars by 2018 has issued its revised plans, and they call for NASA to use SLS to do it.
Dennis Tito’s project to launch a manned fly-by of Mars by 2018 has issued its revised plans, and they call for NASA to use SLS to do it.
I will have more to say about this proposal shortly.
On Sunday Curiosity suffered an electrical problem that has caused a pause in operations while engineers troubleshoot it.
On Sunday Curiosity suffered an electrical problem that has caused a pause in operations while engineers troubleshoot it.
At the moment the rover has ceased its travel. Though they are trying to make this sound as if it isn’t that big a deal, it does not sound good to me.
Opportunity releases a new panorama from its perch on the rim of Endeavour Crater.
Opportunity releases a new panorama from its perch on the rim of Endeavour Crater.
The 3D version is here.
New data suggesting the presence of granite on Mars also suggests that the planet is more geologically complex than previously believed.
The uncertainty of science: New data suggesting the presence of granite on Mars also suggests that the planet is more geologically complex than previously believed.
In my years of science writing, I can’t count the number of times I’ve written the phrase “more complex than previously believed.” For some reason, modern scientists seem to always assume that things will be simple, with one straight-forward answer. From gamma ray bursts to supernovae to planetary formation to whatever, the first example found and the first theory developed from that first example has repeatedly been expected to explain everything.
But that’s not how things work. Instead, the closer scientists have looked, the more complex and interesting things have always become. Many different things can cause gamma ray bursts. Supernovae come in many types. Solar systems don’t have to resemble ours. Everything is always more complex than you first believe.
Scientists would get things wrong less often if they simply kept this thought in mind, at all times.
MAVEN has reached orbit.
MAVEN has reached orbit.
After an additional engine burn, the spacecraft is now on its way to Mars.
NASA’s next Mars orbiter, MAVEN, is go for launch today at 1:28 pm from Wallops Island.
NASA’s next Mars orbiter, MAVEN, is go for launch today at 1:28 pm.
Moreover, another launch on Tuesday night from Wallops Island will be visible along the entire east coast, and will put a record 29 satellites into orbit.
A buggy software upgrade on November 7 caused Curiosity to spend a week rebooting itself.
A buggy software upgrade on November 7 caused Curiosity to spend a week rebooting itself.
They have switched back to the older software so that Curiosity can continue its journey to Mount Sharp while they debug the upgrade here on Earth.
A fourth engine burn has put India’s Mangalyaan probe back on course.
A fourth engine burn has put India’s Mangalyaan probe back on course.
The unexpected abort during the previous burn occurred because engineers were testing the primary and secondary electrical coils that operate the engine’s valves.
During the firing on Monday morning, the team was trying to use both the primary and the redundant coils together as part of a trial. However, there was no fuel flow in this mode and the orbiter could not pick up the required velocity or reach the desired higher orbit. … A senior engineer involved in the process said, “Both the coils are working independently (but not if they are switched on together.)
Today’s burn demonstrated that nothing on the spacecraft has actually failed. As expected, simultaneous use of the two coils will no longer be attempted.
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission experienced its first technical problem during an engine burn today.
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission experienced its first technical problem during an engine burn today.
As scientists tried to increase the speed of the satellite as it orbited Earth Monday, the flow of fuel to the craft’s main engine stopped. Backup thruster engines kicked in to keep the speed up and help raise the spacecraft’s orbit, but the satellite’s incremental velocity dipped, the Indian Space Research Organisation said.
The spacecraft was unable to reach the desired orbiting height of 100,000 kilometers. The satellite is currently orbiting at just over 78,000 km above Earth and scientists have now altered the mission plan to include an additional engine firing Tuesday to help it reach the correct height and incremental velocity of 130 meters a second.
Engineers seem confident that the spacecraft’s back up systems will be able to pick up the slack.
Engineers successfully completed Mangalyaan’s second engine burn yesterday, raising its orbit to just under 25,000 miles.
Engineers successfully completed Mangalyaan’s second engine burn yesterday, raising its orbit to just under 25,000 miles.
Each one of these burns demonstrates the reliability of the spacecraft.
India’s Mangalyaan Mars probe has successfully completed its first orbital engine burn.
India’s Mangalyaan Mars probe has successfully completed its first orbital engine burn.
Not only was the burn successful, it demonstrated that the probe’s thrusters work as planned, which means it is almost certainly not going to be stranded in Earth orbit and will at least get to Mars.
India successfully launched its first probe to Mars today.
The competition heats up: India successfully launched its first probe to Mars today.
The mission, also known in India as Mangalyaan (which means “Mars-craft”), has at the moment only reached Earth orbit. To get to Mars, it must still complete an additional engine firing on November 30.
In preparation for November 5 launch of India’s first mission to Mars, ISRO successfully performed a full dress rehearsal countdown yesterday
In preparation for November 5 launch of India’s first mission to Mars, ISRO successfully performed a full dress rehearsal countdown yesterday.
We all cross our fingers and wish India well on this mission.
The article also had this additional tidbit that reveals a great deal about world culture:
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ESA scientists have produced a movie using the data produced by their Mars Express orbiter in the past decade.
Want to fly over the surface of Mars? ESA scientists have produced a movie using the data produced by their Mars Express orbiter in the past decade.
Video below the fold. More details here.
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The Mars rover Opportunity is heading up hill.
The Mars rover Opportunity is heading up hill.
Even after a decades, this rover is still functioning and doing real exploration. It is an incredible engineering achievement.
The great Martian dust storm of 1971.
The great Martian dust storm of 1971.
There has only been one comparable global dust storm on Mars since then. What made the 1971 even more significant historically is that the first human orbital probe had arrived at that very moment to record it.
By late 1971 and into January 1972 the storm abated, and Mariner 9 began to send back some spectacular images – a total of over 7,300 pictures that mapped the entire martian surface with resolutions ranging from 1 kilometer per pixel to as good at 100 meters per pixel.
The image here gives a sense of the magnitude of the storm. This was what the scientists began to see as the dust settled. The only visible features are the three great Tharsis Montes shield volcanoes, poking up through the haze in a line. The tallest of these reaches an altitude of over 18 kilometers. These peaks, and the enormous bulk of Olympus Mons had never been imaged by a spacecraft before, earlier flybys had missed them.
The late Bruce Murray (Caltech) was on the camera team and recalls, “there was a gradual clearing, like a stage scene, and three dark spots showed up.” The Mars that came out of the storm was a revelation, from these colossal mountains to the great rift of Valles Marineris and the steep valleys of Noctis Labyrinthus.
Fresh impacts caused by Curiosity during landing
The image on the right is a cropped close-up of a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter image taken in early September that shows a fresh cluster of impacts, all smaller than six feet across. Nearby but not visible in this image are four larger craters about 12 to 15 feet in diameter. The impact cluster is located just northwest of Gale Crater and was not present in images taken before Curiosity’s arrival on Mars. The cluster is also in line with other impact craters produced by other debris dropped by Curiosity as it descended onto the Martian surface.
Scientists are at the moment unsure what spacecraft debris caused these impacts.
Assigning each of the impacts to specific pieces of hardware is a challenging puzzle, but it is thought that the four large craters were produced by two large tungsten weights that broke in half to make these four craters, or by pieces of the cruise stage, which was designed to break up in the atmosphere for planetary protection purposes, to kill any Earthly microbes.
The cluster imaged here adds to the mystery, and may have been produced by a piece of the cruise stage that traveled farther through the Martian atmosphere and was therefore more thoroughly fragmented by the time it crashed onto the surface.
Identifying the source of the debris is a challenging engineering problem that also has scientific interest. Knowing what caused the impacts and then studying how the surface was changed by them will tell geologists a great deal about the make up of that surface.