Roving Mars Page #6

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i(launch alarm blaring)/i

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i( man over PA) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.../i

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i( Squyres)/i We don't fire a rocket motor

all the way to Mars, We don't need to,

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We just place the spacecraft

on a trajectory to Mars,

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and let it coast for 7 months

and 300 million miles

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until it reaches the planet,

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Once it's been pushed on its way to Mars

by the launch vehicle,

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it has to maintain

its orientation toward the sun

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and it needs to be able to

correct its orientation and direction

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so that it would hit Mars and get to this

very tiny spot on Mars we're aiming for,

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So all that has to take place over

the course of the seven-month journey,

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i( Manning)/i Landing is when

the real challenge begins,

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Mars is so far away,

it takes about ten minutes

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for a radio signal to travel

one way between Mars and Earth,

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but it's only six minutes from when we

first hit the top of the Martian atmosphere

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to when we're bouncing on the surface,

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There's nothing we can do to help when it's

time to land, The rovers are on their own,

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and we're just passive,

passionately interested observers

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waiting for a radio signal that shows

whether or not they've survived,

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Not going to be an issue,

The current reported temperature

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is about zero degrees Celsius,

which is close to the limit,

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the flight-allowable limit, howeveri,,,/i

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i( man)/i Landing on Mars

is so complicated,

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There are so many things

that can go wrong,

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The flight computer has to know precisely

the right time to deploy the parachute,

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lf it deploys it too high,

when the parachute opens,

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the wind forces

will just rip it to shreds,

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lf we deploy the parachute

too low of an altitude,

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it won't open in time,

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