NASA has decided to press forward with plans to launch a sophisticated Mars rover next year despite escalating costs and technical challenges that have threatened to derail the project. Despite the space agency's approval to continue development of the Mars Science Laboratory, the spacecraft will still require millions in additional funding in order to meet next year's Martian launch window.
VIDEO: LISTEN TO THE MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY PROJECT STATUS TELECONFERENCE Senior NASA managers, including Administrator Michael Griffin and NASA's Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, met with project leaders this week to debate the future of the project and lay out plans for either canceling the lander or moving forward with development. In the end, NASA decided to continue with the mission, citing its scientific importance and the desire to meet the short 30 day 2009 launch window. "It's easy to say let's just cancel it and move on, but we've poured over $1.5 billion into this, the science is critical and it's a flagship mission in the Mars program," Weiler said. The Mars Science Laboratory is already more than $300 million over budget, primarily to cover the costs of difficulties encountered in the development of the lander and descent stage. Originally projected to have a total cost of $1.5 billion, the project has now spent nearly $1.9 billion, and even more money will be required in order to complete development and testing and launch the spacecraft next year. "We have put about $300 million more in this mission to date than what we confirmed it at two years ago," said NASA Mars Exploration Program Director Doug McCuistion. "We know that if we're going to launch in 2009 or 2011, additional budget resources will be necessary to do that." That begs the question of where the money will come from. Given the current economic climate, it's far from certain that Congress will be amenable to providing supplementary funding for the mission. Before requesting supplemental funding from Congress, NASA will first look for the money from funding the agency has already received for other projects, by looking within the Mars exploration program and then elsewhere within NASA if necessary. "The long-standing policy in the science mission directorate is to look within the Mars program first, and if we can't enough money there, to look in the broader planetary program," Weiler said. Agency officials declined to provide estimates of the amount of additional funding the mission will require until Congress and the White House take up the issue. That may give NASA fits as the current Administration is in its final 100 days and Congress is out of session for the election season. The 2009 Mars launch window opens around September 15 and closes one month later. If the Mars Science Laboratory fails to make the window, the mission will be grounded until Mars and Earth are aligned once again for a spacecraft to make the Earth-to-Mars transit. That happens every 26 months, so MSL would be stuck on the ground until at least 2011. MSL's costs have been driven up primarily by technical problems, including difficulty with the flight software that will control the spacecraft on its journey to Mars and when operating on the surface of the planet. At one point, engineers had to devise a new heat shield after the ablative material they intended to use failed qualification testing. The biggest issue has centered around the actuators that will be used to move the rover's wheels, robotic arm and the drill and soil sample collector. Titanium gears inside the actuators had to be replaced by ones manufactured out of stainless steel when testing showed they wouldn't be strong enough to withstand the rigors of the mission. That has resulted in a significant delay, and cost, in delivering the actuators to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory from the contractor Aeroflex, Inc. McQuistion said that NASA is working with Aeroflex to speed up delivery and the actuators are expected to arrive at JPL in November. Testing of the spacecraft will begin by the end of November. The descent stage is complete and the cruise stage and rover are in the final stages of assembly. "NASA's Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life," according to a NASA mission overview. "The spacecraft will descend on a parachute and then, during the final seconds prior to landing, lower the upright rover on a tether to the surface, much like a sky crane." The rover will be released from the rocket powered descent stage and lowered down a long bridle, with its wheels deployed in the "ready to rove" position. It will reach the end of the bridle 8 seconds before touchdown. The descent stage will use onboard thrusters to gently and precisely lower the rover to the ground. When it senses the rover is safely down, it will cut the bridle, throttle up its rocket engines and turn at a 45 degree angle to fly clear of the rover and crash land 500 feet away. Once on the surface, the rover will be able to roll over obstacles up to 75 centimeters (29 inches) high and travel up to 90 meters (295 feet) per hour. On average, the rover is expected to travel about 30 meters (98 feet) per hour, based on power levels, slippage, steepness of the terrain, visibility, and other variables. The rover will carry a radioisotope power system that generates electricity from the heat of plutonium's radioactive decay. This power source gives the mission an operating lifespan on Mars' surface of a full martian year (687 Earth days) or more. After arriving at the Red Planet, MSL will demonstrate the ability to land a very large, heavy rover to the surface of Mars and the ability to land more precisely in a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) landing circle, a much smaller area than previous landers. MSL will demonstrate long-range mobility on the surface of the red planet (5-20 kilometers or about 3 to 12 miles) for the collection of more diverse samples and studies. (The Spacearium / Space Media Corporation)
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