The Mars Express Mission A Continuing Challenge Erhard Rabenau, NOVA Space Associates Ltd Mars Express Senior Mission Planner Mars Society, Munich, 13 October, 2012
The Mars Express Mission - a First in many Ways for ESA First mission at Mars First mission to carry a lander to Mars First Mission built according to express concept (smaller, faster, cheaper paradigm pick any two) First Science Mission to fly Li-Ion batteries First Mission to implement Artificial Intelligence technology in the Ground Segment (Mission Planning)
MEX Lost Most of its Operational Margin at Launch In-orbit SVT ( test as you fly, fly as you test satellite is test bed, no EM) the pitfall of the express concept Power Anomaly 30% power irreparably lost due to design flaw not detected before launch SSMM Performance issues requires downlink planning Star Tracker issues needs sun glasses Instrument Thermal issues leaking heat Instrument High-speed link 2 payload instruments not cross-coupled Launch Cruise 6/2003
The Mars Express Mission Arriving at Mars Beagle-2 lost during EDL Beagle 2 Launch Mars Orbit Insertion 6/2003 12/2003
The Mars Express Mission Arriving at Mars Main Engine burn to capture at Mars Fuel estimate between 7 kg and 11 kg after MOI thermal gauging studies initiated Launch Mars Orbit Insertion 6/2003 12/2003
Challenges by Mission Design - Orbit Orbit - highly elliptical, period 7 h, orbit is maintained according to long-term predictions (330 x 10530 km) Pericentre - precesses through all latitudes in approx 21 months Science Planning - relative to pericentre orbit predictions updated every week and used for scheduling instrument observations Phobos avoidance and target manoeuvres
Challenges by Mission Design - The Instruments on Mars Express Atmosphere/Ionoshpere SPICAM (Ultraviolett and Infrared Atmospheric Spectrometer) PFS (Planetary Fourier Spectrometer) Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
Challenges by Mission Design - The Instruments on Mars Express Atmosphere/Ionoshpere SPICAM PFS Surface HRSC (High Resolution Stereo Camera) SRC (Super Resolution Camera) OMEGA (Infrared Mineralogical Mapping Spectrometer) Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
Challenges by Mission Design - The Instruments on Mars Express Atmosphere/Ionoshpere SPICAM (UV) HRSC on redundant power supply SRC currently PFS (Spectrometer) not operable Surface HRSC SRC Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
Challenges by Mission Design - The Instruments on Mars Express Atmosphere/Ionoshpere OMEGA lost one of its SPICAM (UV) coolers (limited lifetime item) PFS (Spectrometer) Surface HRSC SRC OMEGA Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
Challenges by Mission Design - The Instruments on Mars Express Atmosphere/Ionoshpere SPICAM PFS Surface HRSC OMEGA Sub-Surface MARSIS (Subsurface Sounding Radar) Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
Challenges by Mission Design - The Instruments and Experiments on Mars Express Particles/Plasma ASPERA (Energetic Neutral Atoms Analyser) Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
Challenges by Mission Design - The Instruments and Experiments on Mars Express Particles/Plasma ASPERA Atmosphere/Ionosphere Radio Science (Occultation) SPICAM Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
Challenges by Mission Design - The Instruments and Experiments on Mars Express Particles/Plasma ASPERA Gravity Bi-static Radar Atmosphere/Ionosphere Radio Science Radio Science SPICAM Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
Challenges by Design - Spacecraft Attitude Payload and High-Gain Antenna - mounted on fixed platform satellite has to be pointed to the required attitude Dedicated Pointing Modes - Earth, Nadir, Inertial, Specular,... Space Attitude is a resource trade off number of pointings/orbit, observation duration and number of instruments/pointing power usage, downlink time, uplink time
The Mars Express Mission Radar Boom Deployment Radar Boom deployment delayed by 1.5 years scary simulations Mono-pole not working Launch Mars Orbit Insertion Radar Boom Deployment 6/2003 12/2003 6/2005
The Mars Express Mission Survival Mode Eclipse season with eclipses > 70 min at aphelion Science suspended Spacecraft in survival mode (minimum transmissions, turn off subsystems not needed, run colder, fly WARMUP attitude) Similar season in early 2014 expected Batteries <40% degradation Launch Mars Orbit Insertion End of Radar Boom nominal Deployment Mission SUMO 6/2003 12/2003 6/2005 11/2005 9/2006
Communications a Resource for Planning and Scheduling ESTRACK 35 m New Norcia, AUS Cebreros, ESP Malargue, ARG
Communications a Resource for Planning and Scheduling ESTRACK 35 m New Norcia, AUS Cebreros, ESP Malargue, ARG DSN 34 m DSN 70 m
Communications a Resource for Planning and Scheduling ESTRACK 35 m New Norcia, AUS Cebreros, ESP Malargue, ARG DSN 34 m DSN 70 m 45 228 kpbs Multiple Spacecraft Per Antenna (MSPA) on DSN for downlink Bit rate optimised for each antenna
Communications with Landers - Successfully Demonstrated Prox-1 Open Loop MER communications at regular intervals Launch Mars Orbit Insertion End of Radar Boom nominal Deployment Mission SUMO 6/2003 12/2003 6/2005 11/2005 9/2006 2014 Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
Communications with Landers - Successfully Demonstrated Prox-1 Open Loop MER communications at regular intervals PHX EDL and on-ground support Launch Mars Orbit Insertion End of Radar Boom nominal Deployment Mission SUMO PHX Support 6/2003 12/2003 6/2005 11/2005 9/2006 2008 2014 Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
Communications with Landers - Successfully Demonstrated Prox-1 Open Loop MER communications at regular intervals PHX EDL and on-ground support MSL EDL and on-ground support Launch Mars Orbit Insertion End of Radar Boom nominal Deployment Mission SUMO PHX Support MSL Support 6/2003 12/2003 6/2005 11/2005 9/2006 2008 From 8/2012 Aerospace Conference 2012, Big Sky, Montana, Mar 3-10, 2012
The Mars Express Mission A Camera Resurrected Launch Mars Orbit Insertion End of Radar Boom nominal Deployment Mission SUMO PHX Support VMC 6/2003 12/2003 6/2005 11/2005 9/2006 2008 2010
The Mars Express Mission A Camera Resurrected Cloud Monitoring Launch Mars Orbit Insertion End of Radar Boom nominal Deployment Mission SUMO PHX Support VMC 6/2003 12/2003 6/2005 11/2005 9/2006 2008 2010
Mars Society, Munich, October 13, 2012
The Mars Express Mission PHOBOS Fly-By Recurring fly-bys As close as 67 km radio science Launch Mars Orbit Insertion End of Radar Boom nominal Deployment Mission SUMO PHX Support PHOBOS Fly-by Credit: ESA /DLR / Neukum 6/2003 12/2003 6/2005 11/2005 9/2006 2008 2010 Mars Society, Munich, October 13, 2012
A Major Malfunction A New Operations Concept SSMM controller A declared faulty SSMM switched from controller A to controller B Required HRSC and Lander Radio to switch from primary to redundant system (high-speed link not cross-strapped) temporary loss of SRC Repeatedly problems with transfer of TC from MTL on SSMM MTL operations declared unsafe Launch Mars Orbit Insertion End of Radar Boom nominal Deployment Mission SUMO PHX Support FAST 6/2003 12/2003 6/2005 11/2005 9/2006 2008 8/2011
File Activities on Short MTL (FAST) The New Way of Operating Mars Express FAST concept allows operation from the short MTL (117 TCs) Operations are sequenced into discrete activities that are loaded in the S-MTL when required Number of commands needed to be radically reduced - transform command sequences with multiple commands and multiple sequences into macros (OBCP) ASPERA reduced from >100 TCs per orbit to 12 Operations were resumed after a short suspension to save MARSIS North Pole campaign Return to full science within 3 months FAST 8/2011
Conclusion Mars Express has been challenging on account of its design and as a result of anomalies (no 'relaxed routine') Operations and Mission Planning Concepts were adapted in a flexible manner according to the 'Flight box' concept defining seasonally varying budgets and envelopes Joint co-operation - NASA ground stations, instrument and lander Mission Operations Concept had to be completely redesigned within a very short time in order to be able to resume science (thanks to the inherent flexibility of the on-board software inherited from ROSETTA) FAST Concept has led to a high level of automation in the mission planning processes (man in the loop retained because of complexity and safety concerns)