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Deployment of the MARSIS Radar Antennas On-Board Mars ExpressOn the first European planetary mission, the deployment of the two 20-meter long MARSIS antennas onboard the ESA Mars Express spacecraft has represented an unprecedented technological challenge, in the middle of a successful science mission. While Mars Express was already performing regular observations at Mars, a complex process has been performed on Earth, involving the ESA Project, coordination between ESA, NASA and ASI, the Mars Science community, the spacecraft manufacturer EADS Astrium and the Mission Control Centre at ESOC. This paper describes the steps that led from an initial nogo in 2004 to deployment one year later, as well as the conditions and difficulties encountered during the actual deployment. It provides insights in the technical and managerial processes that made it a success, and analyses the rationale behind the decisions.
Document ID
20070032671
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Denis, Michel
(European Space Agency. European Space Operations Center Darmstadt, Germany)
Moorhouse, A.
(European Space Agency. European Space Operations Center Darmstadt, Germany)
Smith, A.
(European Space Agency. European Space Operations Center Darmstadt, Germany)
McKay, Mike
(European Space Agency. European Space Operations Center Darmstadt, Germany)
Fischer, J.
(VEGA Space Systems Engineering G.m.b.H. Darmstadt, Germany)
Jayaraman, P.
(VEGA Space Systems Engineering G.m.b.H. Darmstadt, Germany)
Mounzer, Z.
(VEGA Space Systems Engineering G.m.b.H. Darmstadt, Germany)
Schmidt, R.
(European Space Agency. European Space Research and Technology Center, ESTEC Noordwijk, Netherlands)
Reddy, J.
(European Space Agency. European Space Research and Technology Center, ESTEC Noordwijk, Netherlands)
Ecale, E.
(EADS Astrium Ltd. Toulouse, France)
Horttor, R.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Adams, D.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Flamini, E.
(Italian Space Agency Rome, Italy)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
June 19, 2006
Subject Category
Communications And Radar
Meeting Information
Meeting: Space Operations Conference
Location: Rome
Country: Italy
Start Date: June 19, 2006
End Date: June 23, 2006
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
deployment
Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS)
Mars Express

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