Mars To Earth: G'day Mate
Sun Herald
Sunday April 27, 2003
WHEN the next mission to Mars takes off in June, it will be Australia that sends the spacecraft on its way to the red planet. And it could be Australia that receives the first message from the Mars rovers the following January or February saying they have found signs of life on the distant planet.
The deep-space tracking station at Tidbinbilla near Canberra will broadcast the signal that first communicates with the Mars explorer spacecraft after it launches from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Two NASA missions are about to head for Mars. The launch of the first has been put back a week to June 6, the second will take off on June 25. The first will land on Mars on January 4, the second on January 25.
``They don't orbit or have a look around, but go straight in like an arrow," Tidbinbilla director Peter Churchill said. ``Heat shields slow them down, then a parachute, then retro rockets and finally they shoot out balloons that act like a beach ball as they land and bounce to a stop on the surface."
The landing sites are considered the most likely spots on the planet to find evidence that there was once water, and to find signs of life.
The sites are half a planet apart. One, the Gusev crater, is a dried out area that looks as though it might have once been a lake. The other, Meridiani Planum , is what appears to have once been a river bed with minerals that may show signs of ancient life.
The last NASA mission to Mars, in 1999, was a disaster as two rovers crashed into the planet and were destroyed.
Scientists have fixed the problem that led to the retro rockets shutting off too early.
The first rover mission, in 1997, produced amazing results, and the Sojourner rover travelled about 100 metres testing soil and rocks.
The new Mars exploration rovers are far more sophisticated. While the 1997 rover was the size of a microwave oven, the new rovers are 180 kilograms and the size of a kitchen table. They will spend three months wandering the planet's surface and can cover 100 metres a day and provide 360-degree photographs.
NASA hopes the mission's success will rekindle interest and faith in the space program after the Columbia shuttle disaster. A new space race is on, with the European Space Agency also sending a probe to Mars, on June 1, aboard a Russian rocket.
The Mars Express will orbit the planet and drop the British-built Beagle 2 lander, named after Charles Darwin's ship, to the surface. The Beagle can't wander, but will launch a mechanical mole called Pluto that can burrow 1.5 metres under the surface where microbes might be living, shielded from the radiation above.
Tidbinbilla will be tracking that mission as well. Mr Churchill said they will be so busy that they will be calling in the Parkes radio telescope to help with communications.
NASA has no formal program to send a man to Mars, but Neal Newman , NASA's representative in Australia, said missions such as this laid the groundwork for a possible manned mission. ``The shuttle tragedy does not impact on the robotic missions to deep space," he said.
The disintegration of Columbia on February 1 , killing its seven crew, reminded scientists of the dangers of manned missions to space, but Mr Newman said NASA was determined to continue space exploration.
``It could be Mars, the moon or elsewhere," Mr Newman said. ``That will be decided by the science."
Mr Churchill said the prospect of manned missions to Mars captured the imagination, but robotic missions had so far revealed the most valuable scientific knowledge.
THE NEW ROVER THAT WILL ROAR AROUND THE RED PLANET AT 100 METRES A DAY
30 degree cameras
1.4 metre tall mast
Thermal emission spectrometer
Robot arm to collect samples, drill and grind rocks
Microscopic imager
Antenna
Directional antenna
Solar panels generating 140 watts
Body contains computer, battery, monitoring equipment
Six wheels individual steering, suspension
© 2003 Sun Herald
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