They Did It! JPL Is Jubilant

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover known as Curiosity touched down on the surface of the Red Planet as scheduled on Sunday, August 5, at 10:31 p.m. local time.

NASA officials, JPL employees, space enthusiasts across the globe, and anyone who had high hopes for future space exploration, cheered as the one-ton interplanetary vehicle made its 36-week journey and landed safely on Mars.

Controllers decided Sunday morning to forgo the sixth and last opportunity on the mission calendar for a course-correction maneuver. The spacecraft headed for its target entry point at the top of Mars’ atmosphere precisely enough without that maneuver. It proved to be a good decision as Curiosity landed as planned.

During its atmospheric entry, descent, and landing, the MSL spacecraft transmitted simple signals called X-band tones (so named because they fall in the X-band portion of the radio spectrum). For the first several minutes of the landing sequence, those tones were picked up by the antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network, and thus reached Earth directly.

Part way through the hair-raising sequence, however, Earth sits below the Martian horizon and made it impossible to use the X-band tones for any further confirmation of the craft’s progress. At that point, the focus shifted to the link between the MSL spacecraft and NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter, one of three satellites currently orbiting the planet.

Odyssey then received transmissions from the spacecraft in the ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) portion of the radio spectrum beginning about two minutes after MSL entered the Martian atmosphere and continued throughout the landing. The orbiter relayed the information directly to Earth via X-band links.

Curiosity’s main assignment is to investigate whether environmental conditions are favorable for microbial life. Only a few days ago, Ian Clark, a scientist and engineer at JPL voiced his hopes after receiving an award from President Obama.

“I think if you ask anyone who’s a fan of putting things on Mars, they all share the vision of eventually putting human there,” Clark said. Like others, he believes the future of space exploration hangs in the balance, but is now within reach.

Members of the Planetary Society and the Mars Society looked on from the Pasadena Convention Center as the rover made a safe landing and history. Prior to the convention, members of both society commented about the importance of the event.

“I think it is possible with our technology,” states Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society, sponsoring the convention. “Human beings have this fundamental instinct to go where they’ve never been before and see things they’ve never seen before, to build where they’ve never built. This is the drive that has made us who we are.”

“The highlight of the weekend,” commented Zubrin last week about the landing, “is going to be when the Curiosity Rover lands on Mars. There’s a great deal at stake. If it succeeds, this will be the best Mars mission ever.”

Others commented about the landing including Lu Coffing of the Planetary Society.

“It’s hard to be the person out there on the front line, the scientist or the astronaut,” says Coffing. “But we’re trying to make it easy so everyone can know what’s happening and enjoy it. We’re web casting everything that we’re doing so everyone with a computer and see and enjoy it.

“I meet so many people who are space enthusiasts,” stated Coffing previous to the Mars landing. “They want to go too. They want to be part of it. People all over the world will be watching this. People will be cheering together if it’s a success.”

What’s the bottom line for JPL and the future of the country’s space exploration? Many believe Curiosity’s success will give the Obama administration and members of Congress a new look and more funding for the space program. Congresswoman Judy Chu added her observations only a few days ago.

“We also have many people in the 27th district that work at JPL and it’s exciting that we’re going to have a Mars landing on Sunday,” stated Chu. “I think a successful landing on Sunday will cheer the country and perhaps make people believe in our space program again.

“But we must make sure we continue the Mars mission project,” Chu added. “It is on the cutting edge of many discoveries we have made, including the incredible innovations taking place at JPL and Caltech. I think it’s a prime example of what this country needs: innovation and education.”