Category Archives: Mars

Simulating Long-Distance Calls to Mars

MAVEN Undergoes Communications Tests

Last week while I was attending a meeting of planetarium folk in Kansas City, the MAVEN mission went through a series of communications tests at the Kennedy Space Center as engineers continue to prep the spacecraft for its trip to Mars. This is pretty crucial; you don’t want to get all the way to Mars only to find out something happened to the radio comm system. So, part of the launch prep is to test all the systems, including the communications packages.

An artist's conception of the MAVEN mission in orbit around Mars. Courtesy NASA/GSFC.
An artist’s conception of the MAVEN mission in orbit around Mars. Courtesy NASA/GSFC.

MAVEN, which is the latest mission to Mars, is going to the Red Planet to study the upper atmosphere. The other missions we’re familiar with are on the ground (Curiosity, for example) or mapping the planet from orbit (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). This one is going to spend its time swooping through parts of the upper atmosphere and gather data about that thin, thin layer of Martian “air” that will tell scientists more about what’s there, how the atmosphere has evolved over time, and try to measure the loss of volatiles (gases) from the uppermost layers. The science mission for MAVEN (which stands for “Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution”) is focused primarily on figuring out which processes allow the top of the atmosphere to escape to space. From that information, scientists will be able to get a better handle on the climate change Mars has undergone since its formation.

It’s pretty clear that Mars was once warmer and somewhat wetter than it is now, and atmospheric escape must have played a huge role in turning Mars into the desert it is today. So, MAVEN will be gathering a lot of data, and sending it back to Earth. That’s why it’s important to have a robust set of comm instruments onboard. During last week’s tests, engineers simulated the distance over which MAVEN’s signals must pass. They beamed test signals to the spacecraft’s low-gain and high-gain antennas and through that practice, treated the instruments as if they were on the 10-month journey to Mars and then on its orbital mission.

 

I found the procedure fascinating to read about, particularly how they simulated “real conditions”. First, the engineers rigged up a way to ramp down the power of the signals by sending them through a series of wiring networks. In essence, they found ways to reduce the signal down to the lowest possible power. Then, the instrument scientists logged into to the system and went through a normal day’s mission commands, as if they were talking to a spacecraft actually at Mars. It was a good practice for everybody, and just the latest in a series of simulations the teams are going through as the November launch date gets nearer.

In “real time”, the spacecraft will gather its data and then send it back to Earth via its onboard radio systems. The signals will be received by the Deep Space Network, and then sent along to the scientists at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. From there, the team members in the U.S. and France will get and analyze their data, helping put t0gether a fuller, richer story about Mars and the role its atmosphere plays.

Going to Space?

 2018 to Mars???

I see in the news that the world’s first space tourist, Dennis Tito (a guy with a lot of money and an urge to push the business of space exploration) wants to send a mission to Mars on a quickie flyby as early as the year 2018.

Five years from now.

Interesting.

This almost sounds like a case of life imitating art, except in Geoffrey Landis’s wonderful book Mars Crossing, actual human explorers DO land on Mars only to find themselves having to trek across the planet for survival. It’s a bit of a drama, but many of the details in the story are scientifically right on target and this could make for good reading for anyone who buys into Dennis Tito’s idea. I’ve read that his Inspiration Mars Foundation has not said there would actually BE any humans on board the ship, so I kind of wonder what the point of the mission would be? However, others have reported that there WILL be crew members. I guess we’ll all find out on Wednesday, February 27th, when the foundation holds its media event to present its ideas to the rest of us.

I suspect the crew will be young guys. I’d love to go. Heck, I’d love to just get to the Moon, but that’s looking like a fainter prospect every day. The lunar and Mars explorers are probably still in high school, maybe in college. It’ll take a while to get things going, but once they do, maybe there’ll be some hope for a trip for those of us who have supported, dreamed, and paid taxes all these years with the idea that maybe someday, somehow, all that support would translate into a chance of a lifetime to visit another world as a tourist.

This Mars trip has me intrigued because I’ve been writing about space travel and exploration for years, wondering when the exploration of the other worlds will branch out.  Now we have somebody who’s making the effort to get us to Mars — finally!  However, I think it needs to be a touchdown mission.  And, perhaps it will be — we’ll find out next Wednesday. But, the ferment on the Web is growing. As others have asked, why go all the way to Mars just to fly by? That’s like going to Florida, driving right past Disney World and taking a few pictures before heading back to the airport for the flight home.  And, if Mr. Tito DOES send people, he will be sending them into some pretty dangerous territory, as many are pointing out.

Back in the “Case for Mars” conference days (before there was a book of the same name), we all got together and discussed the dangers and snags inherent in a trip to Mars. There are plenty of them: radiation, psychological hangups, physical deterioration (astronauts’ bones are damaged by long stays in space, for example).  Making a habitable spacecraft that crew members can survive in for the YEARS it will take for the mission to complete is a worthy challenge. Figuring out how they will eat, sleep, drink, explore… it’s a complex task. These hurdles will be overcome, but I imagine the first ones to head to Mars (whether through Tito’s efforts or a mission sent by a space agency) will be our “canaries in the coal mine” for extended space travel. They’ll be risking their lives.  They’ll be heroes, and the exploration of Mars will be worth the risks they take to get there and come back home.

So, keep a lookout in the news on the 27th to see how it’s all going to play out.  Maybe after all this time, we’re finally going to send people to Mars!