Title :
Assessment of Mars Phoenix EDL performance
Author :
Oberhettinger, David ; Skulsky, Eli D. ; Bailey, Erik S.
Author_Institution :
Caltech Jet Propulsion Lab., NASA, Pasadena, CA, USA
Abstract :
Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) is an especially risky phase of a planetary mission, and detailed information on the performance of a lander´s EDL design is critical to mitigating the risks of future missions. 12However, the study of actual EDL performance and comparison with the pre-entry predictions has not typically been given a high priority following spacecraft landings, mainly for budgetary reasons. Because Mars Phoenix inherited hardware and design elements from a similar mission that appears to have failed during Mars EDL, NASA was particularly interested in identifying the reasons for the Phoenix mission success. Therefore, NASA sponsored a reconstruction and analysis of the downlinked Phoenix telemetry that would tell the story of this critical event sequence-focusing on the 14 minutes from cruise stage separation to landing-and identify lessons learned.
Keywords :
Mars; planetary rovers; space telemetry; space vehicles; EDL design; Mars Phoenix EDL performance; NASA; downlinked Phoenix telemetry; planetary mission; preentry predictions; risk mitigation; spacecraft landings; Mars; NASA; Radar cross section; Space vehicles; Telemetry;
Conference_Titel :
Aerospace Conference, 2011 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Big Sky, MT
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-7350-2
DOI :
10.1109/AERO.2011.5747649