Six Minutes of Terror: The Mars Exploration Rover's Entry, Descent and Landing
Debbie Douglas, Juan R. Cruz
Thu Jan 19, 07:30-09:00pm, MIT Museum
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Prereq: none
In 2004 NASA placed two rovers on the surface of Mars. Before their mission could start, the rovers had to survive the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) sequence. From an approach speed of 5.4 km/s the EDL system had to bring the rovers to a standstill on the surface of Mars. All this had to be accomplished without human intervention, with the knowledge that two thirds of all previous missions to Mars had crashed… Using photographs, videos, and flight data this talk describes the design, development, and operation of the Mars Exploration Rovers EDL system.
Contact: Debbie Douglas, N51-209, x3-1766, ddouglas@mit.edu
Sponsor: MIT Museum
Latest update: 27-Oct-2005
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