biology

Mars Science Laboratory

Mars Science Laboratory is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mars Science Laboratory rather than just read about it. In short: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed Curiosity, a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigating Mars's habitability, studying its climate and geology, and collecting data for a human mission to Mars.

Key takeaways

Mars Science Laboratory belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mars Science Laboratory to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mars Science Laboratory from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed Curiosity, a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigating Mars's habitability, studying its climate and geology, and collecting data for a human mission to Mars. The rover carries a variety of scientific instruments designed by an international team.

Overview

MSL carried out the most accurate Martian landing of any spacecraft at the time, hitting a target landing ellipse of 7 by 20 km (4.3 by 12.4 mi), in the Aeolis Palus region of Gale Crater. MSL landed 2.4 km (1.5 mi) east and 400 m (1,300 ft) north of the center of the target. This location is near the mountain Aeolis Mons (a.k.a. "Mount Sharp"). The Mars Science Laboratory mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort for the robotic exploration of Mars that is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of California Institute of Technology. The total cost of the MSL project was US$2.5 billion. Previous successful U.S. Mars rovers include Sojourner from the Mars Pathfinder mission and the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Curiosity is about twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit and Opportunity, and carries over ten times the mass of scientific instruments.

Goals and objectives

The MSL mission has four scientific goals: Determine the landing site's habitability including the role of water, the study of the climate and the geology of Mars. It is also useful preparation for a future human mission to Mars. To contribute to these goals, MSL has eight main scientific objectives:

Biological

(1) Determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds (2) Investigate the chemical building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur) (3) Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes (biosignatures) Geological and geochemical

(4) Investigate the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical composition of the Martian surface and near-surface geological materials (5) Interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils Planetary process (6) Assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) Martian atmospheric evolution processes (7) Determine present state, distribution, and cycling of water and carbon dioxide Surface radiation (8) Characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including cosmic radiation, solar particle events and secondary neutrons. As part of its exploration, it also measured the radiation exposure in the interior of the spacecraft as it traveled to Mars, and it is continuing radiation measurements as it explores the surface of Mars. This data would be important for a future human mission. About one year into the surface mission, and having assessed that ancient Mars could have been hospitable to microbial life, the MSL mission objectives evolved to developing predictive models for the preservation process of organic compounds and biomolecules; a branch of paleontology called taphonomy.

Specifications

Spacecraft

The spacecraft flight system had a mass at launch of 3,893 kg (8,583 lb), consisting of an Earth-Mars fueled cruise stage (539 kg (1,188 lb)), the entry-descent-landing (EDL) system (2,401 kg (5,293 lb) including 390 kg (860 lb) of landing propellant), and a 899 kg (1,982 lb) mobile rover with an integrated instrument package. The MSL spacecraft includes spaceflight-specific instruments, in addition to utilizing one of the rover instruments — Radiation assessment detector (RAD) — during the spaceflight transit to Mars.

MSL EDL Instrument (MEDLI): The MEDLI project's main objective is to measure aerothermal environments, sub-surface heat shield material response, vehicle orientation, and atmospheric density. The MEDLI instrumentation suite was installed in the heatshield of the MSL entry vehicle. The acquired data will support future Mars missions by providing measured atmospheric data to validate Mars atmosphere models and clarify the lander design margins on future Mars missions. MEDLI instrumentation consists of three main subsystems: MEDLI Integrated Sensor Plugs (MISP), Mars Entry Atmospheric Data System (MEADS) and the Sensor Support Electronics (SSE).

Rover

Curiosity rover has a mass of 899 kg (1,982 lb), can travel up to 90 m (300 ft) per hour on its six-wheeled rocker-bogie system, is powered by a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG), and communicates in both X band and UHF bands.

Computers: The two identical on-board rover computers, called "Rover Compute Element" (RCE), contain radiation-hardened memory to tolerate the extreme radiation from space and to safeguard against power-off cycles. Each computer's memory includes 256 KB of EEPROM, 256 MB of DRAM, and 2 GB of flash memory. This compares to 3 MB of EEPROM, 128 MB of DRAM, and 256 MB of flash memory used in the Mars Exploration Rovers. The RCE computers use the RAD750 CPU (a successor to the RAD6000 CPU used in the Mars Exploration Rovers) operating at 200 MHz. The RAD750 CPU is capable of up to 400 MIPS, while the RAD6000 CPU is capable of up to 35 MIPS. Of the two on-board computers, one is configured as backup, and will take over in the event of problems with the main computer. The rover has an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) that provides 3-axis information on its position, which is used in rover navigation. The rover's computers are constantly self-monitoring to keep the rover operational, such as by regulating the rover's temperature. Activities such as taking pictures, driving, and operating the instruments are performed in a command sequence that is sent from the flight team to the rover. The rover's computers run VxWorks, a real-time operating system from Wind River Systems. During the trip to Mars, VxWorks ran applications dedicated to the navigation and guidance phase of the mission, and also had a pre-programmed software sequence for handling the complexity of the entry-descent-landing. Once landed, the applications were replaced with software for driving on the surface and performing scientific activities.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mars Science Laboratory

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mars Science Laboratory claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mars Science Laboratory before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mars Science Laboratory ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mars Science Laboratory

In research: Mars Science Laboratory appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mars Science Laboratory in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mars Science Laboratory is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2011 in Florida, Astrobiology space missions, Jet Propulsion Laboratory space probes, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mars Science Laboratory outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mars Science Laboratory in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mars Science Laboratory means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mars Science Laboratory out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mars Science Laboratory in simple terms?

Why does Mars Science Laboratory matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mars Science Laboratory?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mars Science Laboratory.