Athena Mars rover science investigation Squyres, Steven W.; Arvidson, Raymond E.; Baumgartner, Eric T. ...
Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets,
December 2003, Letnik:
108, Številka:
E12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Each Mars Exploration Rover carries an integrated suite of scientific instruments and tools called the Athena science payload. The primary objective of the Athena science investigation is to explore ...two sites on the Martian surface where water may once have been present, and to assess past environmental conditions at those sites and their suitability for life. The remote sensing portion of the payload uses a mast called the Pancam Mast Assembly (PMA) that provides pointing for two instruments: the Panoramic Camera (Pancam), and the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini‐TES). Pancam provides high‐resolution, color, stereo imaging, while Mini‐TES provides spectral cubes at mid‐infrared wavelengths. For in‐situ study, a five degree‐of‐freedom arm called the Instrument Deployment Device (IDD) carries four more tools: a Microscopic Imager (MI) for close‐up imaging, an Alpha Particle X‐Ray Spectrometer (APXS) for elemental chemistry, a Mössbauer Spectrometer (MB) for the mineralogy of Fe‐bearing materials, and a Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) for removing dusty and weathered surfaces and exposing fresh rock underneath. The payload also includes magnets that allow the instruments to study the composition of magnetic Martian materials. All of the Athena instruments have undergone extensive calibration, both individually and using a set of geologic reference materials that are being measured with all the instruments. Using a MER‐like rover and payload in a number of field settings, we have devised operations processes that will enable us to use the MER rovers to formulate and test scientific hypotheses concerning past environmental conditions and habitability at the landing sites.
Rocks of the Columbia Hills Squyres, Steven W.; Arvidson, Raymond E.; Blaney, Diana L. ...
Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets,
February 2006, Letnik:
111, Številka:
E2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has identified five distinct rock types in the Columbia Hills of Gusev crater. Clovis Class rock is a poorly sorted clastic rock that has undergone substantial ...aqueous alteration. We interpret it to be aqueously altered ejecta deposits formed by impacts into basaltic materials. Wishstone Class rock is also a poorly sorted clastic rock that has a distinctive chemical composition that is high in Ti and P and low in Cr. Wishstone Class rock may be pyroclastic or impact in origin. Peace Class rock is a sedimentary material composed of ultramafic sand grains cemented by significant quantities of Mg‐ and Ca‐sulfates. Peace Class rock may have formed when water briefly saturated the ultramafic sands and evaporated to allow precipitation of the sulfates. Watchtower Class rocks are similar chemically to Wishstone Class rocks and have undergone widely varying degrees of near‐isochemical aqueous alteration. They may also be ejecta deposits, formed by impacts into Wishstone‐rich materials and altered by small amounts of water. Backstay Class rocks are basalt/trachybasalt lavas that were emplaced in the Columbia Hills after the other rock classes were, either as impact ejecta or by localized volcanic activity. The geologic record preserved in the rocks of the Columbia Hills reveals a period very early in Martian history in which volcanic materials were widespread, impact was a dominant process, and water was commonly present.
FIDO science payload simulating the Athena Payload Haldemann, Albert F. C.; Baumgartner, Eric T.; Bearman, Gregory H. ...
Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets,
November 2002, Letnik:
107, Številka:
E11
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Field Integrated Development and Operations rover (FIDO) emulates and tests operational rover capabilities for advanced Mars rover missions, such as those originally ...planned for the Mars Surveyor 2001 Rover and currently planned for the Athena Payload on the Mars Exploration Rovers scheduled for launch in 2003. This paper describes FIDO's science instrument payload, which is fully integrated with rover hardware and software. Remote science teams visualize instrument suite data and generate FIDO commands using the Web Interface for Telescience. FIDO's instrument suite has been used in terrestrial laboratory and field tests to simulate Mars operations, to train Mars scientists, and to improve Mars rover mission science operations protocols. The payload includes a deck‐mounted, stowable mast that is deployed for acquisition of stereo imaging and spectral reflectance data. The mast head houses Pancam, Navcam (the navigation camera stereo pair), and the Infrared Point Spectrometer (IPS). Pancam is a three‐band, false‐color infrared (0.65, 0.74, 0.855 μm) stereo imaging system. The three wavelengths were chosen to yield information on the ferric nature of observed minerals. IPS acquires spectral radiance information over the wavelengths from 1.3 to 2.5 μm (spectral resolution ∼13 cm−1). A 4‐degree‐of‐freedom arm is included on the front of FIDO. The arm end effector is the mounting point for a Color Microscopic Imager and an 57Fe Mössbauer Spectrometer. FIDO also carries a MiniCorer, which is an Athena prototype rock drill that can acquire 0.5‐cm‐diameter by up to 1.7‐cm‐long cores.
Sample return from solar system bodies including planets, Moons, comets and asteroids is of high importance within the space science community. A returned sample will allow much more elaborate and ...detailed analysis not feasible through remote robotic analysis. For this reason, Honeybee Robotics has developed a low-cost reusable, automated on-orbit sample canister capture mechanism. The purpose of the mechanism is to capture a full sample canister and transfer it to a storage cache, sample return spacecraft, or on-orbit laboratory for further scientific study.
The current design allows for reliable misalignment-compensated capture for various sample container geometries in any initial orientation. After capture, the sample canister is aligned and presented for transfer. Honeybee has demonstrated the concept through tests of two- and three-dimensional telescopic capture mechanism breadboards. The telescopic capture mechanism design is scalable, minimizes volume and can be made of lightweight material to minimize mass, all of which are critical aspects of spacecraft design.
