Feb. 4, 2004

GW Plays Role in Rover Mission

Reseachers Team with NASA/Langley to Analyze Atmospheric Entry on Mars and Reconstruct Trajectory of Mars “Spirit” and “Opportunity” Rovers

By Matthew Lindsay

GW researchers associated with NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, are playing a major role in the Mars Exploration Rover mission by studying atmospheric entry and trajectory data from the “Spirit”and “Opportuntiy” rovers. Spirit successfully landed on Mars on Jan. 4 after seven months of space travel.

Members of GW at Langley, previously part of the GW/NASA Joint Institute for Advancement of Flight Sciences (JIAFS), are involved with the entry, descent and landing portion of the mission. This phase begins when the spacecrafts reach Mars’ atmosphere at approximately 80 miles above the surface of the planet and ends when the landers are safely on the surface of Mars. The descent through the Martian atmosphere takes approximately six minutes, during which time the spacecraft slows from approximately 12,000 to zero miles per hour.

Researchers analyzed accelerometer and gyro readings from Spirit’s trip through the Martian atmosphere and found NASA’s temperature predictions for the Martian atmosphere to be “right on track.” GW researchers are continuing to reconstruct the trajectory of Spirit to compare it with NASA’s planned trajectory and study what made Spirit’s entry, descent and landing on Mars so successful.

“We are studying the parameters which made the Spirit landing successful in hopes of duplicating conditions the second time around, as well as comparing actual and predicted temperature measurements of the Martian atmosphere,” said Bob Blanchard, lead research scientist in the GW group. “These are two very significant tasks. Obviously getting Spirit and now Opportunity safely on Mars is critical to the Mars Exploration Rover mission.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu