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Destination Tomorrow - DT20 - Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

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Subido el 28 de mayo de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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First segment of episode 20 that contains the Behind the Scenes segment in which Scott Striepe discusses how the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) will pave the way for future missions to Mars. The first segment of episode 20 discusses the technology behind the MRO and how aerobraking will be used to decrease the amount of fuel necessary for the mission. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter segment ends with a Did You Know? segment describing the concern NASA scientists have with Martian dust.

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My Outro For My 21st Birthday 00:00:00
Coming up on this episode of Destination Tomorrow, we take a look at a new device that may help 00:00:30
give doctors a type of x-ray vision. We'll also find out about a unique spacecraft designed 00:00:43
to help scout out locations on Mars for future human missions. And we take a look back at 00:00:48
the history of the Space Shuttle. Plus, Johnny Alonzo finds out how sonic booms work. All 00:00:53
this and more next on Destination Tomorrow. 00:00:58
Hello everyone, I'm Cara O'Brien and welcome to this edition of Destination Tomorrow. For 00:01:10
many years now, NASA planners have been sending different types of spacecraft to Mars to answer 00:01:16
basic questions about the Martian atmosphere, mineralogy, and of course, to find out if 00:01:20
life exists there. Although these missions have been very successful in answering key 00:01:26
scientific questions, it has been determined that we need to change our focus towards issues 00:01:30
relating to human factors. With the agency's new push to have human crews at Mars by around 00:01:35
2030, there's a need to begin looking at the challenges associated with getting crews there. 00:01:41
Researchers will need to spend a great deal of time looking for suitable landing sites 00:01:46
that are free of dangerous obstacles, have sufficient amounts of water, and are scientifically 00:01:50
interesting. To help in this task, a spacecraft called the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has 00:01:54
been designed to help pave the way. Jennifer Pulley finds out more. 00:02:00
Although the first planned human missions to Mars probably won't take place until about 00:02:07
the year 2030, NASA planners are already beginning to gear up for them. Literally millions of 00:02:12
key decisions are now being made to help ensure the success of human flights to Mars in the 00:02:17
future. Of course, one of the most important decisions that must be determined early on 00:02:22
is where to land our crews. Planners need to find a landing site that is not only free 00:02:26
of dangerous obstacles like boulders and craters, but there must also be scientifically valuable 00:02:31
points of interest. And of course, water close by is a definite plus. 00:02:37
To help prepare the way for these human missions, NASA planners have developed a unique spacecraft 00:02:42
called the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO. Now, this spacecraft will use advanced 00:02:47
science instruments and high-resolution cameras to scout locations of interest and possible 00:02:53
landing sites for these human missions. To help us understand how the Mars Reconnaissance 00:02:59
Orbiter will work, I spoke with Scott Striepe here at the NASA Langley Research Center to 00:03:03
find out more. Well, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is a 00:03:08
multipurpose spacecraft that's designed and built for the next NASA mission to Mars. Basically, 00:03:12
the orbiter will continue NASA's exploration theme of Follow the Water. It will be on a 00:03:17
very small science orbit. It will be looking for water ice, vapor, and liquid water on 00:03:22
the surface, in the atmosphere, and even below the surface. Also, it will be able to take 00:03:27
some of the highest resolution pictures ever taken of Mars. And from that, NASA scientists 00:03:32
can evaluate potential landing sites for future robotic and human missions. Also, after the 00:03:37
primary science mission is completed, it will become a communication relay for future 00:03:43
Mars missions. So how is the MRO mission different from other 00:03:48
missions to Mars? Well, this particular mission has a high-resolution 00:03:52
camera on board. It will take more detailed pictures than we've ever been able to take 00:03:56
before. Carrying the most powerful telescopic camera 00:03:59
ever flown to another planet, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will be able to show surface features 00:04:02
on Mars as small as a kitchen table. This high-resolution camera will provide a wealth 00:04:07
of information about possible landing sites by photographing the Martian surface in unprecedented 00:04:12
detail. Now, how is this high-resolution camera different 00:04:18
from other cameras used on other missions? Well, this will be able to show things on 00:04:21
a much smaller scale than we've ever been able to get on Mars. You can get details of 00:04:25
boulders and surface features that we've not been able to take with pictures. For example, 00:04:29
they'll leave me investigations to try to go and find the Mars rovers that are currently 00:04:34
there and maybe even look for some of the spacecraft that we lost previously to see 00:04:38
if we can better understand why those didn't complete successfully. 00:04:42
Because the camera and five other science instruments will produce huge amounts of data 00:04:46
every day, the MRO has been designed to send information at ten times the rate of any previous 00:04:50
Mars mission. An added benefit to the MRO is that it will continue to be used as a communications 00:04:55
platform for robotic missions of the future, long after its initial 24-month science phase 00:05:01
is complete. It also has a new suite of instruments that 00:05:06
we've never brought, except for some instruments that will continue to look at the weather 00:05:09
patterns of Mars to understand how the weather impacts the motion of the water on the surface 00:05:14
and in the atmosphere. Now, Scott, what is your role in the Mars 00:05:19
Reconnaissance Orbiter mission? Well, I lead a team of NASA engineers that 00:05:23
supports the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's navigation team during the aerobraking phase. Here at 00:05:26
NASA Langley, we have unique capabilities in aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics, thermal 00:05:31
analysis and flight mechanics. We're bringing all that in to help the Mars Reconnaissance 00:05:35
Orbiter mission during that critical aerobraking phase. 00:05:38
Aerobraking sounds like aeronautics and braking. I'm assuming this has something to do with 00:05:41
slowing the vehicle down? Aerobraking is a technique that you can reduce 00:05:45
the size of a spacecraft's orbit without using very much fuel. And in fact, the Mars Reconnaissance 00:05:48
Orbiter, when it arrives at Mars, will use its engines to put itself into a fairly large 00:05:54
elliptical orbit. Instead of using additional fuel to make that a smaller orbit, what it 00:05:57
will do is skim the upper atmosphere of Mars over a period of six months. And every time 00:06:03
it goes through the atmosphere, it'll lose some of its orbital energy through atmospheric 00:06:07
drag. But you have to be careful because if you go too deep in the atmosphere, you could 00:06:11
cause major components to overheat and thus damage them. 00:06:16
By using aerobraking at Mars, MRO is able to save hundreds of pounds of fuel. And what 00:06:18
that means is we don't have to send all that weight from Earth to Mars. And we can use 00:06:23
maybe a smaller rocket or use that weight for something else, like the science missions. 00:06:27
So Scott, what is the expected length of this mission? 00:06:31
Well, after aerobraking finishes, the primary science mission lasts one Martian year, which 00:06:33
is about 24 Earth months. After that's completed, that's when it will become a communication 00:06:38
relay for future missions. 00:06:43
Now, the term reconnaissance means that you're looking for something. You said you're looking 00:06:44
for water. What else are you searching for? 00:06:48
It'll help the NASA scientists investigate future potential landing sites for other robotic 00:06:50
missions, but also for the human missions that are coming. 00:06:54
So Scott, finally, what are your overall expectations for the MRO mission? 00:06:57
I'm really excited about the MRO mission. Not only do you have subsurface radar, very 00:07:02
high resolution images, the search for water in all three forms, looking at the weather 00:07:06
patterns and the ability to send detailed information to and from future landers. I 00:07:10
think MRO is uniquely positioned to be able to not only expand our knowledge of Mars, 00:07:15
but also continue our recent success at Mars. 00:07:20
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled to take about seven months to reach Mars and 00:07:24
an additional 21 months to take its measurements, but researchers believe that it will continue 00:07:28
to be a valuable communications platform for many years to come. Coming up, we'll find 00:07:33
out about a new device that may give doctors a form of X-ray vision. But first... 00:07:38
Did you know that one big concern for future human missions to Mars is the Martian dust? 00:07:44
Because Mars has a very thin atmosphere and has about one-third the gravity of Earth, 00:07:49
the dust on Mars reacts differently to wind than the dust here on our home planet. The 00:07:53
smallest dust grains on Mars are as fine as cigarette smoke and can simply hang in the 00:07:58
air, potentially causing breathing problems for astronauts if it gets introduced into 00:08:03
the spacecraft. This dust can also form into tornado-like dust devils that can reach as 00:08:07
high as five miles, producing huge storms that can engulf the entire planet. 00:08:13
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Autor/es:
NASA LaRC Office of Education
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
1450
Fecha:
28 de mayo de 2007 - 17:05
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
NASAs center for distance learning
Duración:
08′ 21″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
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