NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, or "Curiosity," at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Photo Credit/NASA photo
NASA faces significant cost and technical challenges in its bid to launch the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, during a 23-day window late this year, according to a new report from the agency’s independent Inspector General.
While acknowledging the concerns in I.G. Paul K. Martin’s 52-page report, the space agency’s science mission directorate believes the spacecraft will be ready to lift off during the Nov. 25 to Dec. 18 window and that a $22 million reserve will be sufficient to assure a timely departure.
The MSL’s landing is scheduled for August 2012.
As large as a Mini Cooper, the nuclear powered Curiosity is equipped with 10 science instruments to help researchers determine whether the Red Planet harbors habitable environments as well as the chemical building blocks for life. In addition, MSL will demonstrate new landing strategies for the kinds of large payloads and precision guidance needed to support future human missions.
“MSL is one of NASA’s most technologically complex projects to date,” according to the I.G’s report. Martin estimates NASA needs $44 million to close out its pre-launch activities.
The 2,000 pound spacecraft is five times heavier than the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity that reached the Martian surface in January 2004 with parachutes and airbags to cushion the landing. While Spirit and Opportunity were solar powered, Curiosity carries a battery of radioactive plutonium to generate the electricity for its studies of the rocks and soil and the surrounding Martian environment.
The big rover, which is at the Kennedy Space Center undergoing launch preparations, was designed to cover a range of three to 12 miles and operate for a Martian year, of nearly 700 Earth days.
In order to land, Curiosity is packed inside a heat shielding enclosure. After diving into the Martian atmosphere, the spacecraft will maneuver through a series of S-turns to slow down. A parachute and braking rockets will further slow the descent. Before Curiosity reaches the surface the protective shell will break away. The spacecraft will hover, allowing Curiosity to be lowered gently to the surface with lanyards.
In his report, Martin noted the MSL project has faced a history of technical and cost challenges. Plans to launch the rover in the fall of 2009 were delayed so NASA could address them. The delay itself drove up the bottom line cost of the project from $1.6 billion to $2.5 billion, according to the report.
An additional two-year delay, would add $570 million to MSL’s overall price tag, according to the I. G.’s report.
Martin said Curiosity’s current challenges include a potential for contamination of the Martian rock and soil samples the rover examines, flight control software development and the spacecraft’s overall fault protection system. The latter is a complex system of safeguards intended to keep failing subsystems as functional as possible.
According to NASA, all of the issues can be addressed by late November.