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Getting to Mars

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The Design and Engineering of Curiosity

Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books ((SPACEE))

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Abstract

Mars launch opportunities happen about every 26 months, as Earth begins to approach Mars from behind on its faster inside track around the Sun. The earliest MSL could launch was November 25, 2011; any earlier, and it would arrive at Mars with too much speed for the entry, descent, and landing system to dissipate. The latest it could launch was December 18; any later, and the Atlas V 541 rocket wouldn’t have enough thrust to deliver the spacecraft to its rendezvous point with Mars.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Details of the launch and cruise events throughout this section are from Abilleira (2013)

  2. 2.

    Abilleira (2013)

  3. 3.

    Allen Chen, personal communication, email dated July 1, 2016, correcting numbers published before launch

  4. 4.

    Bhandari et al (2011)

  5. 5.

    Abilleira (2013)

  6. 6.

    JPL (2012a)

  7. 7.

    The story about how the navigators pulled off the first Trajectory Correction Maneuver was shared with me in an email by Rob Manning on January 8, 2015, and corrects timeline errors he made in his book, Mars Rover Curiosity

  8. 8.

    NASA (2011c)

  9. 9.

    JPL (2012b)

  10. 10.

    Martin-Mur et al (2012)

  11. 11.

    Martin-Mur et al (2014)

  12. 12.

    Martin-Mur et al (2014)

  13. 13.

    Table data are from Abilleira, 2013. For a detailed accounting of the nature and reasons of all the cruise turns and calibrations, read Martin-Mur et al (2014)

  14. 14.

    Chang (2012)

  15. 15.

    Guy Webster, personal communication, email dated May 17, 2017

  16. 16.

    Chen et al (2014)

  17. 17.

    Martin-Mur et al (2014)

  18. 18.

    Abilleira (2013)

  19. 19.

    The details of EDL telecommunications in this section are based on Schratz et al (2014)

  20. 20.

    Schratz et al (2014)

  21. 21.

    Edquist K et al (2009)

  22. 22.

    Allen Chen, personal communication, email dated July 1, 2016, correcting numbers published before the launch

  23. 23.

    Little et al (2013)

  24. 24.

    McEwen A (2012)

  25. 25.

    Abilleira and Shidner (2012)

  26. 26.

    Way et al (2013)

  27. 27.

    Allen Chen, personal communication, email dated February 24, 2016

  28. 28.

    Martin-Mur et al (2014)

  29. 29.

    Mendeck and Craig McGrew (2014)

  30. 30.

    Bose et al (2013)

  31. 31.

    Little et al (2013)

  32. 32.

    Mendeck and Craig McGrew (2014)

  33. 33.

    Mendeck and Craig McGrew (2014)

  34. 34.

    Martin-Mur et al (2014)

  35. 35.

    Way et al (2013)

  36. 36.

    Cruz et al (2014)

  37. 37.

    Baker et al (2014)

  38. 38.

    Way et al (2013)

  39. 39.

    Cruz et al (2014)

  40. 40.

    Hoffman et al (2007)

  41. 41.

    Pearlman (2017)

  42. 42.

    Cruz et al (2014)

  43. 43.

    Karlgaard et al (2014)

  44. 44.

    Chen and Pollard (2014)

  45. 45.

    Steltzner et al (2010)

  46. 46.

    Christian Schaller, personal communication, email dated February 17, 2016

  47. 47.

    Karlgaard et al (2014)

  48. 48.

    Steltzner et al (2010)

  49. 49.

    Way et al (2013)

  50. 50.

    Sell et al (2014)

  51. 51.

    Jordan (2012)

  52. 52.

    Gallon (2012)

  53. 53.

    Sell et al (2014)

  54. 54.

    Jordan (2012)

  55. 55.

    Way et al (2013)

  56. 56.

    Manning and Simon (2014)

  57. 57.

    Way et al (2013)

  58. 58.

    Baker et al (2014)

  59. 59.

    This was explained at the August 6, 2012 post-landing press briefing

  60. 60.

    Baker et al (2014)

  61. 61.

    NASA (2012b)

  62. 62.

    Way et al (2013)

  63. 63.

    John Grotzinger told me this after the end of the press briefing on August 6, 2012

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Planetary Society, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Emily Lakdawalla

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  1. Emily Lakdawalla
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Lakdawalla, E. (2018). Getting to Mars. In: The Design and Engineering of Curiosity. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68146-7_2

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