Mars Curiosity Rover, Mars Science Lab: "Getting to Mars: Transporting a Mars Rover" 2011 NASA JPL

More at: http://scitech.quickfound.net/astro/mars_news.html

The Challenges of Getting to Mars: Transporting a Mars Rover
11.16.11
A look at getting the Curiosity rover from its birthplace at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/MSLLaunch.pdf

Spacecraft

Cruise vehicle dimensions (cruise stage and aeroshell with rover and descent stage inside): Diameter: 14 feet, 9 inches (4.5 meters); height: 9 feet, 8 inches (3 meters)

Rover name: Curiosity

Rover dimensions: Length: 9 feet, 10 inches (3.0 meters) (not counting arm); width: 9 feet, 1 inch (2.8 meters); height at top of mast: 7 feet (2.1 meters); arm length: 7 feet (2.1 meters); wheel diameter: 20 inches (0.5 meter)

Mass: 8,463 pounds (3,893 kilograms) total at launch, consisting of 1,982-pound (899-kilogram) rover; 5,293-pound (2,401-kilogram) entry, descent and landing system (aeroshell plus fueled descent stage); and 1,188-pound (539-kilogram) fueled cruise stage

Power for rover: Multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator and lithium-ion batteries

Science payload: 165 pounds (75 kilograms) in 10 instruments: Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, Chemistry and Camera, Chemistry and Mineralogy, Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons, Mars Descent Imager, Mars Hand Lens Imager, Mast Camera, Radiation Assessment Detector, Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, and Sample Analysis at Mars

Launch Vehicle
Type: Atlas V 541
Height with payload: 191 feet (58 meters)
Mass, fully fueled, with spacecraft on top: 1.17 million pounds (531,000 kilograms)

Mission

Launch period: Nov. 25 through Dec. 18, 2011
Launch windows: Launch opportunities every five minutes during daily windows 103 minutes long at the start of the launch period and 44 minutes long at the end of the launch period. First launch opportunity on Nov. 25: 10:25 a.m. EST

Launch site: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

Earth--Mars distance on Nov. 25, 2011: 127 million miles (205 million kilometers)

Mars landing: Between 1 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Aug. 5, 2012. (Aug. 6, 5 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. Universal Time; Aug. 6, 1 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time). This will be about 3 p.m. local time at the Mars landing site.

Landing site: 4.5 degrees south latitude, 137.4 degrees east longitude, inside Gale Crater

Earth--Mars distance on Aug. 6, 2012: 154 million miles (248 million kilometers)

One-way radio transit time, Mars to Earth, on Aug. 6, 2012: 13.8 minutes

Total distance of travel, Earth to Mars: About 354 million miles (570 million kilometers)

Primary mission: One Martian year (98 weeks)

Expected near-surface atmospheric temperatures at landing site during primary mission: minus 130 F to 32 F (minus 90 C to zero C)

Program

Cost: $2.5 billion, including $1.8 billlion for spacecraft development and science investigations and additional amounts for launch and operations.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Mars Curiosity Rover
• Curiosity
• Mars Rover
• Mars
• NASA
• JPL
• space
• space exploration
• Mars Science Laboratory
• MSL
• Atlas
• Atlas V

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