Beyond_Earth-_A_Chronicle_of_Deep_Space_Exploration_1958-2016.pdf

228

Ebb and Flow

Nation: USA (96)

Objective(s): lunar orbit

Spacecraft: GRAIL-A / GRAIL-B

Spacecraft Mass: 202.4 kg (each)

Mission Design and Management: NASA / JPL

Launch Vehicle: Delta 7920H (no. D356)

Launch Date and Time: 10 September 2011 / 13:08:52 UT

Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station / SLC-17B

Scientific Instruments:

• 1. lunar gravity ranging system (LGRS)
• 2. MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school student) lunar-imaging system
• 3. radio science beacon (RSB)

Results: Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), the eleventh of NASA's Discovery Program, was a dual-spacecraft mission that involved placing two identical spacecraft in orbit around the Moon to use high-quality gravitational field mapping to determine its internal structure. As the two spacecraft flew over areas of greater and greater gravity, the probes moved slightly toward and away from each other, while an instrument measured changes in their relative velocity, providing key information on the Moon's gravitational field. The nominal mission was planned to be three months. (The process used was very similar to the one employed by NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment or GRACE since 2001, which used a similar instrument to GRAIL's LGRS). The spacecraft itself is a design evolution of the U.S. Air Force's Experimental Satellite System-11 (XSS-11) launched in 2005 while the avionics were derived from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The names "Ebb" and "Flow" were given to GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B, respectively after a national contest (won by the fourth grade students at Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Montana). GRAIL made use of a low-energy translunar cruise that involved passing near the Sun–Earth L1 Lagrange Point and then heading for a rendezvous with the Moon. The two spacecraft arrived in lunar orbit about 25 hours apart, on 31 December 2011 (Ebb) and 2 January 2012 (Flow). The primary science phase of the two lunar satellites extended from 7 March to 29 May 2012. A second science phase, as part of the extended mission, was initiated on 8 August 2012. Both spacecraft were then decommissioned and powered down in anticipation of deliberate impact onto the lunar surface which occurred on 17 December 2012. Both Ebb and Flow impacted at 75.62° N / 26.63° W, crashing into the ground at 1.68 kilometers/second. The outcome of the mission was a gravitational map of the Moon unprecedented in its detail. In addition, the MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students), a digital video imaging system, was used as part of the education and public outreach activities of GRAIL. Each MoonKAM consisted of a digital video controller and four camera heads, one pointed slightly forward, two pointed below, and one pointed slightly backward. During the Ebb and Flow missions, MoonKam was operated by undergraduate students at the University of California–San Diego under the supervision of faculty, as well as Sally Ride Science, the foundation organized by America's first woman astronaut, Sally K. Ride (1951–2012) to encourage young people to enter careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

229

Fobos-Grunt

Nation: Russia (107)

Objective(s): Mars orbit, Phobos flyby, landing, soil sample return

Spacecraft: Fobos-Grunt

Spacecraft Mass: 13,505 kg (including 115 kg for Yinghuo-1)

Mission Design and Management: NPO imeni Lavochkina / IKI RAN

Launch Vehicle: Zenit-2SB41.1

Launch Date and Time: 8 November 2011 / 20:16:03 UT

Launch Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome / Site 45/1

Scientific Instruments:

• 1. gas chromatograph package (TDA analyzer + KhMS-1F chromatograph + MAL-1F mass spectrometer)
• 2. gamma-ray spectrometer (FOGS)
• 3. neutron spectrometer (KhEND)
• 4. Mössbauer spectrometer (MIMOS)
• 5. laser mass spectrometer (LAZMA)
• 6. mass spectrometer for secondary ions (MANAGA)
• 7. Fourier spectrometer (AOST)
• 8. gravimeter (GRAS-1)
• 9. seismometer (SEYSMO)
• 10. thermo-detector (TERMOFOB)
• 11. long-wave radar (DPR)
• 12. micrometeoroid detector (METEOR)
• 13. plasma complex (FPMS)
• 14. ultra-stable oscillator (USO)
• 15. optical sun star sensor (LIBRATSIYA)
• 16. microscope (MikroOmega)
• 17. dosimeter (LYULIN)
• 18. TV system (TSNN)
• 19. stereo and panoramic TV cameras

Results: Fobos-Grunt was a highly ambitious mission to the Martian system that had the goal of returning a sample (about 200 g) from Phobos. It was also the first Russian deep space/interplanetary mission since the failed mission of Mars 8 in 1996, 15 years earlier. Besides the main Russian spacecraft (which included significant scientific contributions from ESA and several European countries), Fobos-Grunt also carried a small passenger payload, the Chinese Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter. The scientific goals of the mission included studying the physical and chemical characteristics of Phobos soil, the environment around Phobos, the seasonal and climatic variations of the Martian atmosphere and surface, and testing out several new technologies. The spacecraft was divided into three parts: a Flight Stage (PM), a Return Vehicle (VA)—which included a Reentry Vehicle (SA)—and the Main Propulsion Unit (MDU). After a voyage lasting about 10 months, Fobos-Grunt would have entered a highly elliptical Martian orbit with an 80,000-kilometer apogee, sometime in August/September 2012. At this point, the MDU would have separated from the main spacecraft, along with the truss structure and the Chinese payload.

A simplified illustration of the Russian Fobos-Grunt lander package. The half-spherical object at the top was the descent capsule that would carry samples from the Martian moon Phobos back to Earth. Credit: ESA/Lavochkin Association

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These three objects would have remained in a 900 × 77,000 equatorial kilometer orbit while the main Fobos-Grunt spacecraft (with the Flight Stage and Return Vehicle) would have made two major burns to move into a 9,900-kilometer circular orbit. Following several more months in Mars orbit, the probe would have rendezvoused with Phobos, and then after a few more months, landed on its surface sometime in January 2013. A robotic arm would have performed 15–20 scoops totaling about 85–156 grams of soil, which would have been loaded into the Reentry Vehicle. The 287-kilogram Return Vehicle would then have taken off in April 2013 and headed back to Earth while the lander would have continued its surface experiment program for about a year. On approach to Earth in August 2014, the Return Vehicle would have released the 7-kilogram Reentry Vehicle, which would have reentered Earth's atmosphere, performing a hard landing (without a parachute) in the Sary Shagan test range in Kazakhstan. None of this happened. Within 2.5 hours after launch, at 22:55:48 UT, the MDU propulsion stage (derived from Fregat) was supposed to fire to insert the payload into an elliptical orbit. A subsequent burn would then send the probe towards Mars. At the time that the first burn would have finished, ground tracking stations were, however, unable to find Fobos-Grunt. Later, at 20:25 UT on 22 November, a tracking station belonging to ESA received a signal from the probe (after a command had been sent to turn on one of the transmitters on the spacecraft). After a further brief communications session (with ESA) the next day and one with Russian stations on 24 November, no further contact was established with Fobos-Grunt. ESA gave up attempts to contact the probe on 2 December. American space assets tracked the probe in a 209 × 305-kilometer orbit in early December. The spacecraft and upper stage combination made an uncontrolled reentry on 15 January 2012, with wreckage apparently falling into the Pacific or parts of South America. An investigation later showed the probable cause of failure was a programming error that caused the simultaneous reboot of two channels of the onboard computer (TsVM22). The MDU never actually fired.

230

Yinghuo-1

Nation: China (3)

Objective(s): Mars orbit

Spacecraft: Yinghuo-1

Spacecraft Mass: 113 kg

Mission Design and Management: CNSA

Launch Vehicle: Zenit-2SB41.1

Launch Date and Time: 8 November 2011 / 20:16:03 UT

Launch Site: Baikonur Cosmodrome / Site 45/1

Scientific Instruments:

• 1. plasma package (including electron analyzer, ion analyzer, mass spectrometer)
• 2. fluxgate magnetometer
• 3. radio-occultation sounder
• 4. optical imaging system (2 cameras)

Results: This was a passenger payload on board the Russian Fobos-Grunt spacecraft, and a first attempt by the Chinese to test out an initial mission in Mars orbit. Nominal orbital parameters were planned to be highly elliptical—the low point would vary from 400 to 1,000 kilometers, while the high point would stretch out to 74,000 to 80,000 kilometers. This would be an equatorial orbit (5° inclination) with an orbital period of 72.8 hours. The spacecraft had a design lifetime of about one year that it would use to study the surface, atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetic field of Mars. The payload was carried on a Russian spacecraft as a result of an agreement signed by the Chinese and the Russians in March 2007. The plan was for Yinghuo-1 to be released from Fobos-Grunt once the latter entered Martian orbit. As described in the entry for Fobos-Grunt, although launched successfully, the Russian Martian probe never left Earth orbit. As such, there was no way for the Chinese to test the spacecraft in Mars orbit. Both Fobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1 reentered Earth's atmosphere on 15 January 2012.

231

Curiosity

Nation: USA (97)

Objective(s): Mars landing and rover

Spacecraft: MSL

Spacecraft Mass: 3,893 kg

Mission Design and Management: NASA / JPL

Launch Vehicle: Atlas V 541 (AV-028 + Centaur)

Launch Date and Time: 26 November 2011 / 15:02:00 UT

Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station / SLC-41

Scientific Instruments:

• 1. mast camera (Mastcam)
• 2. Mars hand lens imager (MAHLI)
• 3. Mars descent imager (MARDI)
• 4. alpha x-ray spectrometer (APXS)
• 5. chemistry and camera (ChemCam)
• 6. chemistry and mineralogy x-ray diffraction/x-ray fluorescence instrument (CheMin)
• 7. sample analysis at Mars instrument suite (SAM)
• 8. radiation assessment detector (RAD)
• 9. dynamic albedo of neutrons (DAN)
• 10. rover environment monitoring station (REMS)
• 11. Mars science laboratory entry descent and landing instrument (MEDLI)

Results: The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, consists of a large (899 kilogram) rover called Curiosity and a "sky crane" descent stage to bring the rover down to the Martian surface. Both were fixed inside an aeroshell for entry into the Martian atmosphere. The principal goal of the mission is to assess whether Mars ever had an environment hospitable for lifeforms such as microbes. To do this, Curiosity carries the most advanced complement of instruments ever sent to the surface of Mars. The rover is designed to scoop up soil and rocks and investigate

On June 10, 2011, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) took this dramatic view of the Tycho crater. The summit of the central peak is 2 kilometers above the crater floor. Credit: NASA/Arizona State University

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their formation, structure, and chemical composition in order to look for the chemical building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur). Curiosity is able to travel up to 90 meters per hour on its six-wheeled rocker-bogie system, and is powered by a radioisotope power system to generate power from the heat of plutonium's radioactive decay, which ensured an operating lifetime of at least a full Martian year (687 Earth days). Curiosity operations depend heavily on the orbital communications capabilities of 2001 Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The robot was named "Curiosity" after a nationwide student contest involving more than 9,000 entries.

This image was taken by NASA's Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars on 30 October 2016. Taken by the Mast Camera (Mastcam), the photo shows a smooth-surfaced object about the size of a golf ball which was informally named "Egg Rock." The grid of shiny points visible in the object resulted from laser pulses produced by Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

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