Second MSL Landing Site Workshop, October 23-25, 2007 Options

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

SECOND LANDING SITE WORKSHOP FOR THE 2009 MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY
October 23-25, 2007
Pasadena, CA

Announcement (MS Word)
Information to Presenters (MS Word)

Note also the two August 2007 updates for MSL Landing Site Selection: User’s Guide to Engineering Constraints.

[elakdawalla]

Tim, one thing I wasn't clear on at the workshop was what the time frame over which MSL would have the 30% to 50% duty cycle. At some times it seemed they were talking about lengthy hibernation (several months of inactivity), at other times it seemed they were talking about limited operations within a sol (needing to allow time for the rover to warm up, like a lizard in the sun as one person put it). Which one was it, or was it both?

--Emily

[tglotch]

Tim, one thing I wasn't clear on at the workshop was what the time frame over which MSL would have the 30% to 50% duty cycle. At some times it seemed they were talking about lengthy hibernation (several months of inactivity), at other times it seemed they were talking about limited operations within a sol (needing to allow time for the rover to warm up, like a lizard in the sun as one person put it). Which one was it, or was it both?

--Emily

My understanding is that immediately upon landing at a one of the high southern latitude sites, the rover would enter hibernation and not do anything for a month or more. This is different than the situation of Spirit at Gusev, where although the rover was not moving during the winter, it was still acquiring imagery, APXS, Mini-TES, and MB data from its site.

Then, after hibernating for that extended period at the beginning of the mission, MSL would then be allowed operate on a reduced duty cycle.

[PaulM]

My understanding is that immediately upon landing at a one of the high southern latitude sites, the rover would enter hibernation and not do anything for a month or more. This is different than the situation of Spirit at Gusev, where although the rover was not moving during the winter, it was still acquiring imagery, APXS, Mini-TES, and MB data from its site.

Then, after hibernating for that extended period at the beginning of the mission, MSL would then be allowed operate on a reduced duty cycle.

I think that the need to hibernate for one month or more rules out most Southern sites. My reason for saying this is that any probe sitting on Mars in the depths of Winter could fail at any time due to the expansion and contraction of solder joints.

One common thread running through MER briefings is that they concentrate on what Spirit and Opportunity will achieve in the next month or two. There seems to be a healthy acceptance that no rover can be presumed to carry on working for longer than a month or two in the very tough conditions on Mars.

[mcaplinger]

I think that the need to hibernate for one month or more rules out most Southern sites. My reason for saying this is that any probe sitting on Mars in the depths of Winter could fail at any time due to the expansion and contraction of solder joints.

Not a rover which is kept warm by a big lump of plutonium, though. External hardware is being designed to last for a minimum of one martian year of thermal cycles.

The hibernation may rule out southern sites because no one will want to hibernate that much, but it's not because of solder joint lifetime.