Fwd: Maven mission back on track

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: October 4, 2013 8:09:44 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Maven mission back on track

 

 

 

 

Work on NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars resumes at KSC

Oct. 3, 2013  

 

Spacecraft bound for Mars on display at KSC: NASA's MAVEN spacecraft destined for Mars was on display at Kennedy Space Center on Friday. It is slated for launch on Nov. 18. By Malcolm Denemark and Tim Walters Posted Sept. 27, 2013

Written by
James Dean
FLORIDA TODAY

NASA's next Mars orbiter today won a reprieve from the federal government shutdown and resumed preparations for a Nov. 18 launch.

The shutdown risked pushing the $671 million MAVEN mission's launch beyond its normal 20-day window, or potentially until the next Mars launch window came around in 2016.

In either case, the later launch would have used up more fuel that would have limited the orbiter's long-term ability to serve as a communications relay for rovers on Mars' surface.

"We have already restarted spacecraft processing at Kennedy Space Center, working toward being ready to launch on Nov. 18," said Bruce Jakosky, the mission's principal investigator. "We will continue to work over the next couple of days to identify any changes in our schedule or plans that are necessary to stay on track."

 

 

Maven Mars mission back on track

Oct. 3, 2013 10:50 PM  

 

MAVEN: Mars atmospheric loss: NASA's MAVEN spacecraft will give us a clearer idea of how Mars lost its atmosphere, and scientists think that several processes have had an impact. NASA video. Originally posted Sept. 2012.

Written by
James Dean
FLORIDA TODAY

Purchase Image Zoom

File photo shows technicians at KSC doing tests on the Maven spacecraft, The next Mars orbiter was placed in a safe mode at Kennedy and work there paused on Tuesday, when the federal government's partial shutdown began and most NASA civil servants were furloughed. / MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY

Briefly threatened with missing some or all of its limited launch window to Mars because of the partial government shutdown, NASA's Maven mission on Thursday won approval to resume preparations for a launch next month from Cape Canaveral.

"We have already restarted spacecraft processing at Kennedy Space Center, working toward being ready to launch on Nov. 18," said Bruce Jakosky, principal investigator for the $671 million mission. "We will continue to work over the next couple of days to identify any changes in our schedule or plans that are necessary to stay on track."

The next Mars orbiter was placed in a safe mode at Kennedy and work there paused on Tuesday, when the federal government's partial shutdown began and most NASA civil servants were furloughed.

By Thursday, NASA determined Maven should be exempted from the shutdown because, in addition to its primary science mission to study Mars' upper atmosphere, the orbiter may serve as a critical communications link for rovers on Mars.

If the mission launched too late this year or was forced to wait until the next launch opportunity came around in 2016, it would not have had enough fuel to perform its science mission and provide a long-term relay capability for the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers.

"Although the exception for Maven is not being done for science reasons, the science of Maven clearly will benefit from this action," said Jakosky, of the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. "Launching in 2013 allows us to observe at a good time in the 11-year solar cycle."

U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, D-Florida, welcomed the restart of work.

"We would have flushed hundreds of millions of dollars down the drain if we had let the foolish political games of a few get in the way of a critical mission like this," he said.

Short for "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission," Maven plans to spend at least one year flying through Mars' upper atmosphere to study how the Red Planet's climate changed over time, from warm and wet to cold and dry.

The mission's planned 20-day launch window runs from Nov. 18 through Dec. 7, but could be extended to about Dec. 15 without impacting the combined science and relay mission.

The orbiter will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.

 

Shutdown slows MAVEN progress

Oct. 3, 2013 10:40 PM   

 

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Technicians at Kennedy Space Center do final testing and preparations. / MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY

Written by
Bernie
Badger

Because of the federal government shutdown Oct. 1, some critical work had been halted at Kennedy Space Center. The work stoppage affected the preparations for the MAVEN Mars orbiter's Nov. 18 launch.

Officials intervened, though, and work restarted on the Mars orbiter Thursday — two days after it had been halted.

The decision to restart was critical because there is only a 20-day launch window. If MAVEN doesn't launch before Dec. 7, it will require too much energy to reach Mars.

The Hohmann transfer orbit allows a spacecraft to move to or from a circular orbit of one size to a new orbit of a different size using just two short burns of the rocket. To move from Earth's orbit to Mars, requires the spacecraft to speed up so that it is going too fast to remain in Earth's orbit around the Sun. With the minimum burn necessary to reach the orbit of Mars, the elliptical path will intersect Mars' orbit on the opposite side of the Sun (from a heliocentric inertial reference frame).

At that point the spacecraft will be moving too slowly and would fall back to the orbit of the Earth. Instead, another forward burn is made to bring the spacecraft up to speed.

This scenario is complicated by the presence of the Earth and Mars. Instead of just orbiting around the Sun, the spacecraft is in orbit around the Earth. At the other end of the transfer it needs to get into an orbit around Mars.

The Hohman transfer orbit spends most of its time coasting and requires (nearly) the least amount of fuel possible. If you are not coasting, it will take more fuel. If you are coasting, it always takes the same amount of time. The Earth/Mars orbits are such that the launch window that results in actually arriving at Mars only comes around every 26 months.

MAVEN now will, if it stays on schedule, arrive at Mars on September 22, 2014. The rocket motors on MAVEN are not powerful enough to completely change its velocity to the final desired orbit. Instead the initial burn results in a large capture orbit with a period of 35 hours. On a later pass a second burn will insert the spacecraft into the 4.5-hour period orbit required for acquiring data. Three smaller burns will tune the periapsis altitude (closest distance) of the spacecraft to approximately 150 kilometers.

MAVEN will spend a period of one Earth year in its science mapping orbit: a 75-degree inclination elliptical loop. Scientific measurements of atmospheric stable isotopes, solar wind and magnetism will be compared to results from the bottom of the atmosphere taken by the Mars Science Laboratory's SAM module. An important feature of MAVEN's mission are the five 5-day "deep dips" when MAVEN will descend to a lower periapsis to sample the lower parts of the upper atmosphere.

Badger is Project Coordinator at the Eastern Florida State College Planetarium in Cocoa. Send questions, suggestions, or comments to badgerb@easternflorida.edu.

 

Copyright © 2013 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved. 

 

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Mars orbiter granted reprieve from government closure
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
October 3, 2013

Engineers returned to work on NASA's next Mars mission at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday after receiving an emergency exception under federal law to continue launch preparations for a $671 million orbiter to probe the red planet's atmosphere.

After a two-day shutdown, processing work will resume on the MAVEN spacecraft, shown here during an illumination test at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
 
The decision keeps the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, mission on schedule for liftoff Nov. 18 at the opening of a 20-day primary launch window.

"I learned this morning that NASA has analyzed the MAVEN mission relative to the Anti-Deficiency Act and determined that it meets the requirements allowing an emergency exception," said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN's principal investigator from the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

NASA sent 97 percent of its civil servant workforce home Tuesday after Congress failed to pass a federal budget, only granting exceptions for activities deemed essential for the protection of life or property.

While administrators, support staffs and scientists were furloughed, operations of the International Space Station in support of its six-person crew continued this week, along with data-gathering activities on the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's rovers and orbiters already at Mars.

But the government shutdown halted work on missions still in development on the ground, such as MAVEN.

Officials feared an extended government shutdown could threaten the mission's ability to launch by mid-December, the last chance to send a spacecraft to Mars until the planets are in the right positions again in early 2016.

With the MAVEN work stoppage lifted Thursday, engineers lost about three days of work on the spacecraft. But officials with Lockheed Martin Corp., MAVEN's prime contractor, said last week the mission was nine days ahead of schedule going into the shutdown.

"Good news for us, although we're very sensitive to the fact that there are still 800,000 government employees who are furloughed," Jakosky told Spaceflight Now.

Teams returned to work on MAVEN inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at KSC on Thursday afternoon, Jakosky said.

"We have already restarted spacecraft processing at Kennedy Space Center, working toward being ready to launch on Nov. 18," Jakosky wrote in an update emailed to reporters. "We will continue to work over the next couple of days to identify any changes in our schedule or plans that are necessary to stay on track."

Jakosky said it will take a day to ramp up activities and fully resume preparations on MAVEN.

NASA's exception for MAVEN was granted under the guise of the orbiter's importance as a communications replay platform for the $2.4 billion Curiosity rover and the venerable Opportunity robot exploring the Martian surface.

The Mars Odyssey mission and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently provide communications support for the rovers, but both orbiters are flying well beyond their design lives.

"Launching MAVEN in 2013 protects the existing assets that are at Mars today," Jakosky said. "A delay in the launch date by more than a week past the end of the nominal launch period, or a delay of launch to 2016, would require additional fuel to get into orbit. This would have precluded having sufficient fuel for MAVEN to carry out its science mission and to operate as a relay for any significant time."

Scientists are also eager to launch MAVEN in time for the spacecraft's suite of solar wind monitors, particle sensors and atmospheric instruments to observe how the Martian atmosphere responds to stimuli from solar activity.

MAVEN is designed to study how gases escape from the upper atmosphere of Mars, which could tell scientists how the red planet evolved from a world hospitable for life to the barren planet of today.

"Although the exception for MAVEN is not being done for science reasons, the science of MAVEN clearly will benefit from this action," Jakosky said. "Launching in 2013 allows us to observe at a good time in the eleven-year solar cycle."  

 

© 2013 Spaceflight Now Inc.

 

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NASA: Government shutdown won't stop MAVEN launch to Mars

NASA's next Mars-bound spacecraft was cleared for launch in spite of the federal government shutdown. (John Raoux / Associated Press / September 27, 2013)

By Amina Khan This post has been updated, as indicated below.

October 3, 2013, 4:14 p.m.

Planetary scientists are breathing a sigh of relief as NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars has been cleared for takeoff. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission, slated for launch as early as Nov. 18, had been put on hold after this week's government shutdown, raising fears that the spacecraft would miss the launch window and be grounded for years.

"I learned this morning that NASA has analyzed the MAVEN mission relative to the Anti-Deficiency Act and determined that it meets the requirements allowing an emergency exception," Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN's lead scientist based out of the University of Colorado in Boulder, said in an email.

MAVEN, set for launch between Nov. 18 and Dec. 7, will play a crucial role as a communications relay between Earth and the rovers Curiosity and Opportunity, Jakosky said. That's a function currently carried out by two aging satellites, Mars Odyssey (launched in 2001) and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (launched in 2005).

"Wow, that's good news," said UCLA planetary scientist David Paige, who was not involved in the mission. Paige said the mission had been on his mind all day.

"The whole notion that they wouldn't launch this thing is just appalling," Paige said. "You have this whole rocket almost on the launchpad."

In response to the government shutdown, NASA furloughed 97% of its roughly 18,000 workers, halting almost all but the most essential activities.

The freeze left MAVEN's team of scientists and engineers in a lurch – many of them had already flown from all over the country to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to set up for the launch.

Had MAVEN not escaped the funding freeze, the team could have pushed a launch to Dec. 15 at the latest, about a week after the end of its official launch window, Jakosky said. But beyond that, Earth and Mars would have fallen out of ideal alignment.

"This would have precluded having sufficient fuel for MAVEN to carry out its science mission and to operate as a relay for any significant time," Jakosky said. This would have left the mission grounded for several years until the next available launch window.

The MAVEN mission will explore the evolution of the Martian atmosphere, and will probe whether its cold, thin, dry shell of air was once thick and ideal for microbial life. In its elliptical orbit, it will swoop down to just 77 miles above the surface to taste each layer of the top of the atmosphere and then get a bird's eye view of the entire planet at its highest point, 3,728 miles above the planet.

Although MAVEN was deemed necessary for technical support and not science values, the science would still benefit, Jakosky said.

"Launching in 2013 allows us to observe at a good time in the 11-year solar cycle," he said.

[Updated 6:10 p.m.: The spacecraft was shipped to the Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 2, giving the team three months to work through an enormous to-do list and get the spacecraft ready for launch.

Among the list of more than a dozen tasks: Inspect, clean and prepare the spacecraft after shipping; reinstall parts that had been removed for the journey; load fuel; attach the spacecraft into the payload support structure and later to the Atlas and Centaur rockets; and roll the 5,622-pound craft out to the launchpad. 

"There really are a lot of things to be done before it's ready," Jakosky said. "So far, we've gotten through about the first four items on this list.... Now that we're back at work, we're on track to be able to do the others between now and Nov. 18. It will take a lot of hard work and some long days, but it's doable on that schedule."]

Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times

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NASA's MAVEN Mars orbiter granted 'Emergency Exemption' to Resume Processing during Government Shutdown

by Ken Kremer on October 4, 2013

Technicians resumed spacecraft preparations for NASA's MAVEN orbiter today (Oct. 3) aimed towards meeting the hoped for Nov. 18 launch to Mars after receiving an 'emergency exemption' from forced furloughs. The Oct. 1 US Government shutdown had stopped all work on MAVEN and other NASA missions. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Following a three day period of complete work stoppage due to the US Government Shutdown, technicians late today (Oct. 3) resumed critical launch preparations for NASA's next mission to Mars, the MAVEN orbiter. And it's not a moment too soon, because the consequences of continued delay would have been absolutely dire for the entire future of Mars exploration!

"We have already restarted spacecraft processing at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) today," Prof. Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN's chief scientist told Universe Today in a special new mission update today.

Today, Oct 3, top NASA managers have "determined that MAVEN meets the requirements allowing an emergency exception relative to the Anti-Deficiency Act," Jakosky told me.

MAVEN had been scheduled to blast off for the Red Planet on Nov.18 atop an Atlas V rocket from the Florida Space Coast until those plans were derailed by the start of the government shutdown that began at midnight, Tuesday (Oct. 1) due to fruitless and endless political gridlock in Washington, DC.

The upcoming Nov. 18 blastoff of NASA's new MAVEN Mars orbiter was threatened by the US Federal Government shutdown when all launch processing work ceased on Oct. 1. Spacecraft preps had now resumed on Oct. 3. MAVEN was unveiled to the media, including Universe Today, inside the cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27, 2013. With solar panels unfurled, this is exactly how MAVEN looks when flying through space. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

About 97% of NASA's workforce had been immediately furloughed on Oct. 1 and ordered not to go to work – along with some 800,000 other Federal employees – when their work was deemed "non-essential" despite maintaining spacecraft valued at tens of billions of dollars.

This left only skeleton crews manning Mission Control's for dozens and dozens of ongoing space missions and the International Space Station (ISS)

Despite the work hiatus, the team is still hoping to achieve an on time launch or soon thereafter.

"We are working toward being ready to launch on Nov. 18," Jakosky, MAVEN principal Investigator of the University of Colorado at Boulder, said.

"We will continue to work over the next couple of days to identify any changes in our schedule or plans that are necessary to stay on track."

The processing team at KSC lost three days of the nine days of margin in the schedule.

The upcoming Nov. 18 blastoff of NASA's new MAVEN Mars orbiter was threatened by the US Federal Government shutdown when all launch processing work ceased on Oct. 1. Spacecraft preps had now resumed on Oct. 3 after receiving an emergency exemption. MAVEN was unveiled to the media, including Universe Today, inside the cleanroom at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27, 2013. With solar panels unfurled, this is exactly how MAVEN looks when flying through space. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

The nominal launch window for NASA's $650 Million MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN Mission) mission to study the Red Planet's atmosphere only extends about three weeks until Dec. 7.

And he said the team will do whatever necessary, including overtime, to launch MAVEN to the Red Planet by Dec. 7.

"The team is committed to getting to the launch pad at this opportunity, and is willing to work double shifts and seven days a week if necessary. That plus the existing margin gives us some flexibility. "

Interestingly, the ''emergency exemption" was granted because of MAVEN's additional secondary role as a communications relay for NASA's intrepid pair of surface rovers – Curiosity and Opportunity – and not because of its primary science mission.

"MAVEN is required as a communications relay in order to be assured of continued communications with the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers," Jakosky explained.

NASA's MAVEN Mars orbiter, chief scientist Prof. Bruce Jakosky of CU-Boulder and Ken Kremer of Universe Today inside the clean room at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27, 2013. MAVEN launches to Mars on Nov. 18, 2013 from Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Although NASA has two functioning orbiters circling the Red planet at this moment, they are getting old, are far beyond their original design lifetimes and suffer occasional glitches. And there is no guarantee of continued operation.

"The rovers are presently supported by Mars Odyssey launched in 2001 and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched in 2005."

"Launching MAVEN in 2013 protects the existing assets that are at Mars today," Jakosky told me.

If Mars Odyssey and/or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter were to fail, then the rovers mission operations would be severely curtailed and could even be terminated prematurely – in a worst case scenario.

And without MAVEN, there would be no point in launching NASA's planned 2020 rover since there would be no way to transmit the science data back to Earth.

"There is no NASA relay orbiter at Mars planned post-MAVEN," Jakosky noted.

If MAVEN has to launch later in December 2013 or is forced to be postponed to the next launch window opportunity in 2016, both the communications relay capability and the missions atmospheric science objectives would have been very badly impacted.

"A delay in the launch date by more than a week past the end of the nominal launch period, or a delay of launch to 2016, would require additional fuel to get into orbit."

"This would have precluded having sufficient fuel for MAVEN to carry out its science mission and to operate as a relay for any significant time," Jakosky elaborated.

"Our nominal launch period runs from 18 November through 7 December, and we can launch as late as about 15 December without a significant impact on our combined science and relay activities."

From a purely science standpoint, 2013 is the best time to launch MAVEN to accomplish its science objectives.

"Although the exception for MAVEN is not being done for science reasons, the science of MAVEN clearly will benefit from this action."

"Launching in 2013 allows us to observe at a good time in the eleven-year solar cycle."

"MAVENS's goal is determining the composition of the ancient Martian atmosphere and when it was lost, where did all the water go and how and when was it lost," said Jakosky.

Stay tuned here for continuing MAVEN and government shutdown updates.

And watch for my articles about critical operations related to LADEE on Oct 6 and JUNO on Oct. 9. The government shutdown negatively impacts these missions and others as well.

Ken Kremer

…………….

Learn more about MAVEN, Curiosity, Mars rovers, Cygnus, Antares, SpaceX, Orion, LADEE, the Gov't shutdown and more at Ken's upcoming presentations

Oct 8: NASA's Historic LADEE Lunar & Antares/Cygnus ISS Rocket Launches from Virginia"& "Curiosity and MAVEN updates"; Princeton University, Amateur Astronomers Assoc of Princeton (AAAP), Princeton, NJ, 8 PM

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