For the first time, ESA’s Mars orbiter has
relayed scientific data from NASA’s Curiosity rover on the Red Planet’s
surface. The data included detailed images of ‘Rocknest3’ and were received by
ESA’s deep-space antenna in Australia.
It was a small but significant step in
interplanetary cooperation between space agencies.
Early on the morning of 6 October, ESA’s Mars
Express looked down as it orbited the planet, lining up its lander
communication antenna to point at Curiosity far below on the surface. For 15
minutes, the NASA rover transmitted scientific data up to the ESA satellite. A
few hours later, Mars Express slewed to point its high-gain antenna toward
Earth and began down linking the precious information to the European Space
Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, via the Agency’s 35 m-diameter antenna
in New Norcia, Australia.
The data were immediately made available to
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California for processing and analysis,
proving again that NASA’s amazing new rover can talk with Europe’s veteran Mars
orbiter.
Curiosity’s ChemCam images Rocknest3
The information included a pair of tremendously
interesting images acquired on 4 October by Curiosity’s ChemCam Remote
Micro-Imager camera. ChemCam comprises the camera together with a Laser-Induced
Breakdown Spectrometer, which fires a laser at targets and analyses the
chemical composition of the vaporised material.
The laser zaps areas smaller than 1 mm across
on the surface of martian rocks and soils, and then
the spectrometer provides information on the minerals and microstructures in
the rocks.
Rocknest3 relayed by Mars Express
Outstanding image quality
The first image (at top of article) was taken
before a series of five ChemCam laser blasts and the second image (at right)
was taken after. The image is centred on the fifth observation point. “The
quality of these images from ChemCam is outstanding, and the mosaic image of
the spectrometer analyses has been essential for scientific interpretation of
the data,” says Sylvestre Maurice, Deputy Principal Investigator for ChemCam at
France’s Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP).
“This combination of imaging and analysis has
demonstrated its potential for future missions.”
Laser targets on Rocknest3
ChemCam laser targets
A third image, relayed separately by NASA,
indicates the locations of the laser target points on Rocknest3, as seen by the
RMI camera. ‘Rocknest’ is the area where Curiosity stopped for a month to
perform its first mobile laboratory analyses on soil scooped from a small sand
dune. Rocknest3 was a convenient nearby target where ChemCam made more than 30
observations using 1500 laser shots.
A wide-angle context image was acquired by
Curiosity’s MastCam and shows Rocknest3 as targeted by ChemCam. Rocknest3 is
about 10 x 40 cm, or roughly the size of a shoe box.
Fostering Curiosity – and others
Rocknest3
ESA’s Mars orbiter has also relayed data for
NASA’s other surface missions – Phoenix, Spirit and Opportunity – since 2004,
and it relayed Curiosity’s radio signal during its arrival at Mars last August.
During the Curiosity mission, Mars Express is set to provide additional relay
slots, while maintaining its own scientific observation programme, under an
ESA-NASA support agreement.
It can also rapidly provide relay services in
case of unavailability of NASA’s own relay orbiter or if there is a problem on
the rover itself.
Interplanetary cooperation
“ESA–NASA cooperation at Mars is a continuing
success, and comes after both sides have worked diligently for a number of
years to set technical and engineering standards to enable sharing data between
spacecraft, networks and ground stations,” says Mars Express Spacecraft
Operations Manager Michel Denis. “Exploring Mars is a huge challenge, and space
agencies are working to boost cooperation and mutual support for current and
upcoming missions. It’s the way of the future.”
For further information visit: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMZ7ZB1W9H_index_2.html
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