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Questions tagged [mars-science-laboratory]

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Why wasn't the MSL landing ellipse in Gale Crater placed further South?

This paper documents the final landing site selection process for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. One of the cons associated with Gale Crater (as pointed out in Table 10 of the paper), was ...
olamarre's user avatar
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3 votes
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When the Mars 2020 and Mars Science Laboratory missions were in deep space, what antennas did they have available to communicate with Earth?

This thorough answer to Did the Curiosity and Perseverance rover brains do the driving from Earth to Mars? explains that during deep space flight the rovers' computers were doing most of the thinking ...
uhoh's user avatar
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13 votes
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Did the Curiosity and Perseverance rover brains do the driving from Earth to Mars?

This interesting answer to Why did NASA intentionally crash-land the Curiosity and Perseverance sky cranes on Mars? leads me to wonder if the Curiosity and Perseverance rover computers were in charge ...
uhoh's user avatar
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2 votes
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Did the Mars 2020 Mission do any science that wasn't done by Perseverance proper?

Per answers to What is the equivalent of Curiosity's "MSL" in the context of Perseverance? What's the official name of the mission? Are the distinctions similar? Where does MSL end ...
uhoh's user avatar
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4 votes
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Are there fluid disconnects that sever just before the Curiosity or Perseverance rovers separate from their cruise stages or landers?

In this comment under an answer to Heating Perseverance components prior to deployment I wrote: I think (but can not find a source yet) that there is even a loop of "hot water plumbing" ...
uhoh's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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How to retrieve MSL EDL trajectory using Javascript and webgeocalc API?

I found a "javascript gateway" to NASA SPICE data, the "webgeocalc" web api: https://wgc2.jpl.nasa.gov:8443/webgeocalc/example/perform-calculation.html It works both online and ...
jumpjack's user avatar
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Do aeroshells really get hotter than the surface of the sun?

This answer to How to design heatshield bluntness? says: Curiosity reentry dumped about 98% of its entry energy into the atmosphere, the aeroshell can still get to be temps greater than the surface ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Did the Mars Science Laboratory do any science that wasn't done by Curiosity proper?

This answer to What is the equivalent of Curiosity's “MSL” in the context of Perseverance? What's the official name of the mission? Are the distinctions similar? got me thinking that answers to Where ...
uhoh's user avatar
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5 votes
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What is the equivalent of Curiosity's "MSL" in the context of Perseverance? What's the official name of the mission? Are the distinctions similar?

Answers to Where does MSL end and Curiosity begin? explain the difference. There was much fanfare for the naming contest for the Perseverance rover, but I don't know what the mission is called. ...
uhoh's user avatar
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Which potential landing sites were identified at the MSL Landing Site workshops?

In the Wikipedia article Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory it is mentioned that at the first MSL Landing Site workshop, 33 potential landing sites were identified, and that by the second workshop in ...
Cornelis's user avatar
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Where does MSL end and Curiosity begin?

There are tags for mars-science-laboratory and curiosity but I don't really understand how the Mars Science Laboratory begins and the Curiosity Rover begins conceptually, spatially, or chronologically....
uhoh's user avatar
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Does the Mars2020 lander need a new parachute design?

The EarthSky.org article Supersonic parachute test off Virginia coast March 27 and the linked YouTube video NASA’s Mars 2020 Supersonic Parachute: Test Flight #1 describes a recent test launched by a ...
uhoh's user avatar
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3 votes
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Why is this "grainy footage" of a Martian (sky) from Curiosity so grainy? Cloud snaps by Opportunity look great!

A paper from the 2017 meeting Lunar and Planetary Sciences XLVIII describes a systematic observation of the Martian sky, with a sequence of eight taken every day at zenith and near-horizon angles. ...
uhoh's user avatar
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2 votes
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What are transonic oscillations (wrist mode) and would Schiaparelli have been transonic at 2 to 4 km altitude?

edit: Considering that the recent (23-Nov-2016) ESA update suggests that a saturation of the rotational sensors in the IMU may have set off a series of miscalculations leading to mission loss, the ...
uhoh's user avatar
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