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For Curiosity, it’s Mars or bust

By WTOP Staff

Greg Redfern, wtop.com

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), nicknamed Curiosity, is humanity’s latest robotic emissary to the red planet Mars. As I write this, Curiosity is traveling over 8,0100 miles per hour and is 116,600 miles from touchdown inside the ancient 98-mile wide Gale Crater.

You can watch the computer simulation of Curiosity’s flight in real time here. You can follow the landing coverage live here.

The $2.5 billion, one-ton nuclear powered rover has been flying towards Mars since launching from Earth last November. The 154 million mile journey to date has gone very smoothly but the most treacherous and dangerous part of the mission for Curiosity is yet to come in the last 7 minutes before scheduled touchdown.

Seven minutes of terror

To land on Mars safely Curiosity must successfully complete EDL – Entry, Descent, Landing. The spacecraft’s heat shield will glow like the surface of the Sun and be heated to several thousand degrees. when it hits Mars’s thin atmosphere at 13,000 mph.

When the entry phase is complete, the largest supersonic parachute ever used on another world will deploy and endure 65,000 pounds of force and 9 to 10 gs. The spacecraft will jettison the heat shield so the landing radar can see the surface and gain the necessary data for the upcoming landing. Curiosity is now traveling 200 mph, still way too fast for landing. The parachute has slowed Curiosity but now the Sky Crane must do its job.

In the first ever use of the Sky Crane concept, the parachute and backshell are jettisoned leaving Curiosity attached to the Sky Crane, which ignites rocket engines to begin powered descent. But first the Sky Crane must avoid the parachute and backshell by a tilt maneuver.

Curiosity is then lowered on tethers 60 feet long which keeps the rocket engines at a safe distance. The spacecraft has now slowed to about 1.5 mph. Curiosity is now coming in for landing in a vertical descent. Her 6 wheels have been deployed and when she touches down the tethers are separated and the Sky Crane flies away to crash at a safe distance.

Oh, did I mention that all of this is done by the spacecraft’s on-board computers using 500,000 lines of code? There is no human intervention in this entire sequence since it takes 14 minutes for radio signals traveling at 186,000 miles per second – the speed of light – to complete one way transmission and reception.

These seven minutes of terror for Curiosity and the mission team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. will come to an end with the spacecraft either alive and well or dead on the surface. It will take another 7 minutes before we know one way or another.

Touchdown in Gale Crater is scheduled for 1:31 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6, so we should know Curiosity’s fate 7 minutes later. Winds affecting the parachute could alter the landing time but not by much. We should get our first low resolution pictures from Curiosity minutes after landing.

NASA will attempt to record Curiosity’s landing using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) as was done for the Mars Phoenix mission several years ago

MRO and another orbiting spacecraft, Mars Odyssey, will be used to relay radio signals between Earth and Curiosity during the scheduled two year mission. During the crucial landing phase, Australia’s Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex will be used for communications.

What’s on board

Curiosity is the most capable spacecraft that has been sent to the Martian surface to date. She is a small SUV size roving chemical laboratory that is powered by the heat of decaying non-weapons grade Plutonium 238 that will allow her to roam all year long and not be dependent on solar power as her predecessors were. The 10 instruments onboard are designed to identify any organic compounds that are discovered in rock and soil samples.

Curiosity has a laser beam that can ablate and then analyze samples of rocks to determine their composition. She can scoop up samples and heat them up to find out what they are made of. Curiosity can examine and photograph samples and vistas to an unprecedented level of detail. She has a top speed of 98 feet per hour.

All of this capability is at the core of Curiosity’s mission – to determine whether Mars had or has the right conditions to support life. Gale Crater was chosen as the landing site after an exhaustive survey of candidate landing sites because of the presence of minerals that can only be formed with water. Curiosity’s landing zone is located in an area at the base of three mile high Sharp Mountain and has sedimentary layers that are visible. It is these layers and the surrounding area that Curiosity will explore and sample to see if life could exist on Mars.

The future

A lot is riding on those upcoming 7 minutes of terror. A failed landing of a multi-billion dollar mission to a polarized and politicized Congress could spell doom for NASA’s already under siege Mars exploration budget. Even success may not matter to this Congress. But it will to NASA and all of us who want to see and learn new things about the Red Planet.

To me, personally, I just can’t imagine that Mars hasn’t had life in its warmer, wetter past, or even now. Life always finds a way even in our planet’s harshest environments. Somewhere I think it is very likely that Mars has the conditions for algae-like or microbial life forms to survive and thrive. They do here in deserts of sand and ice, in caves, huge meteorite impact craters and at the bottom of oceans.

The late Carl Sagan once said, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.” Curiosity gives us the capability to find the necessary proof to perhaps make an extraordinary claim – “Mars had or has conditions necessary for life.”

Personally connect with Curiosity by looking at Mars in the western evening sky as it gets dark. Say hello to the intrepid explorer and wish her well on her mission of discovery. Learn how to spot her in the sky here

I will be on Fox 5 Monday morning after 6:30 a.m., so I hope you will tune in for the very latest on the mission.

See what’s in the sky this week.

Follow my daily blog to keep up with the latest news in astronomy and space exploration. You can email me at skyguyinva@gmail.com.

Follow WTOP on Twitter.

(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

Don’t Settle for Student Loans to Pay for Online Education

By WTOP Staff
Online college programs are becoming a more popular choice for prospective students, with one study finding that more than 6 million students enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2015. The popularity of these courses can be attributed in part to their flexibility with working adults' schedules, students' ability to progress more quickly through online programs and, oftentimes, cheaper tuition. [See 10 low-cost online bachelor's programs for out-of-state students.]Online degrees can be beneficial to many college students, but some studies have shown online learners complete their programs at lower rates than students at traditional brick-and-mortar campuses. Individuals with student loans but no degree comprise two-thirds of defaulted borrowers. Though these numbers are not encouraging, just like for traditional programs, there are ways to reduce how much you'll need to borrow for an online program to ensure you won't become one of these statistics. Don't just settle on borrowing student loans to cover the whole cost of your program and living expenses. Instead, start thinking about how to cut costs and cover your balance in different ways, such as the following. -- Grants and scholarships: Even though you are taking an online course, you can still apply and receive grants and scholarships. But your first step should be to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly referred to as the FAFSA, which will allow you to receive a Pell Grant if your expected family contribution is low enough. The EFC criteria and award amounts are adjusted annually, but the 2017-2018 academic year awards range from $606 to $5,920, which could significantly lower the amount you borrow annually. Your next step is to apply for scholarships. You can start by checking online scholarship search engines, such as the Salt Scholarship Search, College Board's BigFuture and Peterson's. But don't forget to take advantage of local organizations and your school's financial aid office. Both may offer scholarships that you can't find with a national scholarship search. [Review these 10 sites to kick off your scholarship search.]For instance, organizations like the Elks Club, Knights of Columbus or the Rotary Club typically offer scholarships annually to local students. Just because you're going to school online doesn't mean you're ineligible. Visit your local library for scholarship listings, and ask around town. You might be surprised how many local organizations offer scholarships. While these scholarships typically aren't large, every little bit counts. Each dollar you receive in a scholarship is a dollar you don't have to borrow and pay interest on. -- Work-study: Another option for online students may be work-study awards. Not all students enrolled in online programs are eligible, but students at some schools -- including, for example, SUNY Empire State College and Liberty University -- are. Work-study awards are not given upfront like scholarships and grants. In most cases, they are an offer to earn up to the awarded amount if you secure an eligible work-study job. While there is a misconception that all work-study jobs must be on campus, students can work for off-campus, nonprofit or public employers as long as the work is in the public's interest. You may be able to work for a for-profit employer if the job is relevant to your course of study. No matter who the outside employer is, it will need to have an established agreement with your college for you to receive work-study funds. Remember, to be eligible for federal financial aid, you must be enrolled and pursuing a degree or certificate. If you're not working toward a credential, Pell Grants and work-study won't be option, but you may still be able to take advantage of private scholarships -- just be sure to read the eligibility criteria carefully. [Explore what to know about financial aid in online programs.]-- Pay as you go: One of the great benefits to enrolling online is the flexible schedule, which can allow you to complete your college coursework around your responsibilities. But prospective students often overlook using their part- or full-time job earnings as an option for paying for college. Almost 80 percent of college students in 2015 worked at least part time while attending classes, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By budgeting and thinking strategically about your college costs, you can likely reduce your dependence on student loans by paying a portion out of pocket. Many -- but not all -- online programs are less expensive than traditional programs and often have shorter payment periods. Six, eight or 10 weeks are common course durations. Because of the frequency of payments in an online setting, you may be well-placed to pay as you go and possibly avoid borrowing altogether. Attending college online and avoiding student loans may be challenging, but if you are willing to put in the effort, you can limit the amount you need to borrow. More from U.S. News Q&A: Understanding Student Loan Discharge Eligibility Student Loan Refinancing Isn't Right for All Borrowers
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