Roving Mars Page #3

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but the first person to walk on Mars

is not an astronaut today,

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lt's someone in high school

or in elementary school,

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i( man)/i So it's turning in place,

then, when it gets lined up just right,

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we're gonna drive it backwards,

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i( Squyres)/i We've invested so much work,

so many years,

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so much of our hopes

and our dreams into these rovers,

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And then when you think

about where they're going,

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the ride they're gonna get on that rocket,

the transit through space,

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what it's like when that parachute

goes out at mach 2,

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going through the Martian atmosphere,

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You're standing next to this little robot

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and you realize it's gonna spend eternity

on the surface of another world,

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lt's going to another planet, for real,

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And once they're gone, that's it,

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After the rovers launch, we're never gonna

see them again with our own eyes,

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We've done everything we can to prepare

them for the dangers they'll have to face,

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but it's gonna be very hard

to say goodbye,

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i(wind machine)/i

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''Spirit'' will be launched first,

then ''Opportunity'' three weeks later,

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Mars and Earth are both orbiting the sun,

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so they're always moving

relative to each other,

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Every 26 months,

there's a brief interval

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when the planets are lined up just right,

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At that time, and only at that time,

we have enough rocket fuel to make it,

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So this is our one shot,

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i(launch alarm blaring)/i

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i( man over PA) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.../i

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i( Squyres)/i We don't fire a rocket motor

all the way to Mars, We don't need to,

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We just place the spacecraft

on a trajectory to Mars,

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and let it coast for 7 months

and 300 million miles

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until it reaches the planet,

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Once it's been pushed on its way to Mars

by the launch vehicle,

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it has to maintain

its orientation toward the sun

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and it needs to be able to

correct its orientation and direction

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so that it would hit Mars and get to this

very tiny spot on Mars we're aiming for,

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So all that has to take place over

the course of the seven-month journey,

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i( Manning)/i Landing is when

the real challenge begins,

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Mars is so far away,

it takes about ten minutes

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for a radio signal to travel

one way between Mars and Earth,

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but it's only six minutes from when we

first hit the top of the Martian atmosphere

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to when we're bouncing on the surface,

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There's nothing we can do to help when it's

time to land, The rovers are on their own,

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and we're just passive,

passionately interested observers

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waiting for a radio signal that shows

whether or not they've survived,

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Not going to be an issue,

The current reported temperature

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is about zero degrees Celsius,

which is close to the limit,

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the flight-allowable limit, howeveri,,,/i

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i( man)/i Landing on Mars

is so complicated,

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There are so many things

that can go wrong,

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The flight computer has to know precisely

the right time to deploy the parachute,

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lf it deploys it too high,

when the parachute opens,

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the wind forces

will just rip it to shreds,

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lf we deploy the parachute

too low of an altitude,

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it won't open in time,

and it will just crash right into the ground,

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i( Squyres)/i The trick is every time

there's some critical event -

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the parachute deploys,

the heat shield falls away -

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we change the frequency

of the radio signal,

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And so Polly's sitting at her console,

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and she's looking for

these changing frequencies,

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And when the number changes,

she knows that this event has happened,

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that event has happened,

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i(Lee on radio) Flight Director Willis reports/i

iall systems go for Entry Descent Landing./i

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iWe are roughly 1 1 minutes,/i

i48 seconds from landing/i

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iat the Gusev Crater/i

iin the southern hemisphere of Mars./i

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iAtmospheric entry in 3, 2, 1./i

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We have just passed

one minute to atmospheric entry,

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Current altitude 1 21 miles,

current velocity 1 2,084 miles per hour,

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iWe are now at an altitude of 7 3 miles,/i

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imoving at a speed of/i

i1 2, 1 92 miles per hour./i

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iExpected parachute deploy/i

iin five seconds./i

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i4, 3, 2, 1, mark./i

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iWe are awaiting confirmation/i

ithat parachute has deployed./i

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i( man) Parachute's been detected./i

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iHeat shield deployed event./i

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iSpacecraft reporting that heat shield/i

ihas jettisoned./i

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i- Separation detected./i

i- Spacecraft reporting lander separated,/i

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imoving at a speed of 1 7 3 miles per hour./i

iWe are near our terminal velocity./i

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