{"id":13831,"date":"2018-04-28T17:30:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-28T09:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-to-replace-cracked-heat-shield-in-time-for-mars-2020-rover-launch\/"},"modified":"2018-04-28T17:30:01","modified_gmt":"2018-04-28T09:30:01","slug":"nasa-to-replace-cracked-heat-shield-in-time-for-mars-2020-rover-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-to-replace-cracked-heat-shield-in-time-for-mars-2020-rover-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA to replace cracked heat shield in time for Mars 2020 rover launch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Artist\u2019s concept of the Mars Science Laboratory, containing the Curiosity rover, entering the Martian atmosphere. The Mars 2020 mission will use the same heat shield design. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA officials plan to replace the Mars 2020 rover\u2019s heat shield after engineers discovered a crack in the structure earlier this month, but managers anticipate no delay in the mission\u2019s scheduled launch date a little more than two years away.<\/p>\n

The space agency said in a statement released late Thursday that workers found a crack around the circumference of the circular heat shield April 12, following a week-long test at a Lockheed Martin facility near Denver.<\/p>\n

\u201cA post-test inspection of the composite structure for a heat shield to be used on the Mars 2020 mission revealed that a fracture occurred during structural testing,\u201d NASA said in a statement. \u201cThe mission team is working to build a replacement heat shield structure. The situation will not affect the mission\u2019s launch readiness date of July 17, 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA said the structural test at Lockheed Martin, which built the heat shield, \u201cwas designed to subject the heat shield to forces up to 20 percent greater than those expected during entry into the Martian atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the fracture was unexpected, it represents why spaceflight hardware is tested in advance so that design changes or fixes can be implemented prior to launch,\u201d the NASA statement said.<\/p>\n

A NASA spokesperson did not respond to questions on the damaged heat shield, and the agency\u2019s announcement did not provide an estimate of the cost of a replacement heat shield.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a recent Mars 2020 rover heat shield test, teams identified a fracture in the structure,\u201d tweeted Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA\u2019s science directorate. \u201cI\u2019m happy that our standard test procedures revealed the issue & allows the team to build a replacement without impacting the launch readiness date.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mars 2020 mission must launch in July or August of 2020, or else wait for the next Mars launch window in the second half of 2022. The rover is assigned to lift off from Cape Canaveral on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.<\/p>\n

Engineers at NASA and Lockheed Martin are investigating the cause of the fracture, and whether they need to change the design of the new heat shield for the Mars 2020 mission, officials said.<\/p>\n

The nearly 15-foot-diameter (4.5-meter) heat shield intended to fly on the Mars 2020 mission was originally tested in 2008 after it was manufactured as a backup for the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which delivered the Curiosity rover to Mars in August 2012.<\/p>\n

The heat shield and back shell will encapsulate the Mars 2020 rover during its interplanetary trip from Earth to Mars, and protect the spacecraft during its fiery descent into the Martian atmosphere, when temperatures outside the aeroshell will reach up to 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit (2,100 degrees Celsius).<\/p>\n

\"\"
File photo of the heat shield (bottom) and back shell (top) enclosing the Curiosity rover before its launch in November 2011. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Mars 2020 mission is using the same rover and landing system design as Curiosity, but with new science instruments, a zoom lens, improved wheels, and autonomous navigation software that will allow the lander to steer away from obstacles like boulders or steep slopes, raising the probability of a successful touchdown.<\/p>\n

Roughly 85 percent of the new rover\u2019s mass is based on \u201cheritage\u201d hardware based on technology flown on the Curiosity rover, according to NASA.<\/p>\n

One of the Mars 2020 rover\u2019s primary objectives will be to collect core samples and drop hermetically sealed tubes containing Martian rock, soil and air specimens at predetermined \u201ccaching\u201d locations, where a future rover will retrieve and load them into a Mars Ascent Vehicle, a small booster that will blast them into space. A separate spacecraft will bring the samples back to Earth for analysis by scientists.<\/p>\n

The Mars 2020 mission\u2019s cruise stage and \u201csky crane\u201d descent stage are nearly complete at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and final assembly of the rover itself should begin late this year.<\/p>\n

The rover will carry 42 sample tubes, including spares and \u201cblanks\u201d scientists will use to calibrate data and eliminate contamination errors. Mission officials want the the rover to be capable of collecting at least 31 rock and soil samples after it lands on Mars in early 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe major technical challenge is the sampling system,\u201d said Ken Farley, the Mars 2020 project scientist at JPL, in a presentation to the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group earlier this month. \u201cThis is a fundamentally new and very complicated system.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Artist\u2019s concept of the Mars 2020 rover. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Farley said engineers are also conducting extra wind tunnel and sounding rocket testing of the supersonic parachute to be used on Mars 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may come as a surprise to people that we would do additional parachute testing because when we began, we believed we could use the MSL heritage parachute design,\u201d Farley said.<\/p>\n

But parachute failures encountered during testing of NASA\u2019s Low Density Supersonic Decelerator, an experimental testbed built to gauge the performance of a new Martian re-entry vehicle, raised questions on the reliability of the Mars 2020 mission\u2019s parachute design, despite its good performance during the Curiosity rover\u2019s arrival at Mars in 2012, Farley said.<\/p>\n

The Mars 2020 mission will use a different parachute design than the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator, according to Farley, but engineers have strengthened the upcoming rover\u2019s chute to avoid problems encountered during the decelerator\u2019s high-altitude tests in 2014 and 2015.<\/p>\n

The effort to bring back the samples collected by the Mars 2020 rover is expected to be an international endeavor, with NASA and the European Space Agency planning major roles.<\/p>\n

Representatives of the two space agencies signed a \u201cstatement of intent\u201d Thursday to explore concepts for missions to bring samples from Mars back to Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenges of going to Mars and back demand that they are addressed by an international and commercial partnership \u2013 the best of the best,\u201d said David Parker, ESA\u2019s director of human and robotic exploration. \u201cAt ESA, with our 22 member states and further cooperating partners, international cooperation is part of our DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA officials have outlined a strategy that could result in the launch of a fetch rover and Mars Ascent Vehicle from Earth in 2026, but details, such was which space agencies or companies will build and fund major parts of the mission, remain elusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrevious Mars missions revealed ancient streambeds and the right chemistry that could have supported microbial life on the red planet,\u201d Zurbuchen said in a statement. \u201cA sample would provide a critical leap forward in our understanding of Mars\u2019s potential to harbor life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to connecting and collaborating with international and commercial partners on tackling the exciting technological challenges ahead\u2014that would allow us to bring home a sample of Mars,\u201d Zurbuchen said.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist\u2019s concept of the Mars Science Laboratory, containing the Curiosity rover, entering the Martian atmosphere. The Mars 2020 mission will use the same heat shield design. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech NASA officials plan to replace the Mars 2020 rover\u2019s heat shield after engineers discovered a crack in the structure earlier this month, but managers anticipate no delay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1183,472,367,1761,1714,1214,1561,1563],"class_list":["post-13831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-mars","tag-mars-2020","tag-mars-rover","tag-mars-sample-return","tag-planetary-science","tag-solar-system"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13831"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}