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Mars Exploration Rover Entry, Descent, and Landing: A Thermal PerspectivePerhaps the most challenging mission phase for the Mars Exploration Rovers was the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL). During this phase, the entry vehicle attached to its cruise stage was transformed into a stowed tetrahedral Lander that was surrounded by inflated airbags through a series of complex events. There was only one opportunity to successfully execute an automated command sequence without any possible ground intervention. The success of EDL was reliant upon the system thermal design: 1) to thermally condition EDL hardware from cruise storage temperatures to operating temperature ranges; 2) to maintain the Rover electronics within operating temperature ranges without the benefit of the cruise single phase cooling loop, which had been evacuated in preparation for EDL; and 3) to maintain the cruise stage propulsion components for the critical turn to entry attitude. Since the EDL architecture was inherited from Mars Pathfinder (MPF), the initial EDL thermal design would be inherited from MPF. However, hardware and implementation differences from MPF ultimately changed the MPF inheritance approach for the EDL thermal design. With the lack of full inheritance, the verification and validation of the EDL thermal design took on increased significance. This paper will summarize the verification and validation approach for the EDL thermal design along with applicable system level thermal testing results as well as appropriate thermal analyses. In addition, the lessons learned during the system-level testing will be discussed. Finally, the in-flight EDL experiences of both MER-A and -B missions (Spirit and Opportunity, respectively) will be presented, demonstrated how lessons learned from Spirit were applied to Opportunity.
Document ID
20090026396
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Tsuyuki, Glenn T.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Sunada, Eric T.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Novak, Keith S.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Kinsella, Gary M.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Phillip, Charles J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
August 8, 2005
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Meeting Information
Meeting: Thermal and Fluids Analysis Workshop
Location: Orlando, FL
Country: United States
Start Date: August 8, 2005
End Date: August 12, 2005
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
thermal
, Descent, and Landing (EDL)
Mars
Mars Exploration Rovers

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