Perseverance: The Mission and the Team, Thomas Zurbuchen “As we went through the countdown, just minutes before the launch of NASA’s Perseverance rover, we got a message that seemed fitting: “there is an Earthquake in Pasadena.” MiMi Aung, the project director of Ingenuity, the pioneering Mars helicopter was just on air from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory when her world started shaking. “She seemed a little more nervous than normal.” somebody […]

Keith’s note: If you visit the NASA Mars 2020 website and go to the Science page it talks about the mission’s strategy as being to “Seek Signs of Life” on Mars. That is what NASA’s Astrobiology program does, right? Alas, this JPL website does not use the word “astrobiology” – anywhere. Not even in the Instruments page. Nor does this other JPL website on the mission. Oddly If you go […]

NASA OIG: Audit of the Mars 2020 Rover Project “The largest risk to the Mars 2020 schedule is the Project’s Sample and Caching Subsystem (Sampling System), which will collect core samples of Martian rocks and soil and place them on the planet’s surface for retrieval by a future robotic or human mission. At Preliminary Design Review (PDR), three of the Sampling System’s critical technologies were below technology readiness level (TRL) […]

NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload “The Mars 2020 mission will be based on the design of the highly successful Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, which landed almost two years ago, and currently is operating on Mars. The new rover will carry more sophisticated, upgraded hardware and new instruments to conduct geological assessments of the rover’s landing site, determine the potential habitability of the environment, and directly search for signs […]

NASA Notice of Intent to Release Mars 2020 Announcement of Opportunity “NASA SMD intends to release an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) entitled Mars 2020 Investigations to solicit proposals for investigations for a space flight mission to Mars, to be launched in July/August 2020. The target date for release of the AO is no earlier than (NET) September 16, 2013. The SMD budget for Phases A-D is expected to be approximately […]

Keith’s note: NASA has decided who is on their Mars 2020 rover Science Definition Team. No press release however. Isn’t it a bit odd that SMD uses a bull horn to tell everyone who was not selected, but can’t be bothered to tell the public who was selected. I have to wonder if SMD actually has a PAO strategy these days. I have seen little evidence thereof these days. NASA […]