Speaker
Description
Over the last decades, several missions have successfully landed on the Mars Surface, placing scientific instrumentation onboard landers and rovers in different individual landing sites. However, a qualitative leap in “in-situ” climate science on the red planet could happen via larger-scale observations. MarsConnect is an INTA project that aims to develop microprobes with scientific instruments that, thanks to their reduced mass and volume, could be deployed on the Martian surface in a large number to set up planetary atmospheric networks.
The 10-12 kg probe consists of a rigid aero-shell that provides both stability and heat shielding during the descent, avoiding the complexity of supersonically deployed parachutes, propulsion systems or inflatable technologies. Aerothermal loads during the re-entry phase drive the sizing of the Thermal Protection System (TPS), that guarantees the probe’s structural integrity and proper internal temperatures. Preliminary conservative estimations for a range of trajectories and atmospheric conditions yield figures at the stagnation point of 210 W/cm² for peak thermal flux and of 10.000 J/cm² for integral thermal load.
The aeroshell encloses a ~6 kg, 3-section, hard impact penetrator (terminal velocity < 140 m/s), that can accommodate up to 1 kg of payload. Once on the Mars surface, most of the equipment relies on its wide allowable temperature range, heritage of the miniaturized instrumentation already qualified for past missions to Mars. The penetrator also includes a highly insulated “warm compartment” for components required to be maintained within more stringent limits. The landing site latitude will determine the illumination profile along the Martian year, and hence the maximum available power that can be obtained by the lander solar cells and the necessary storage capacity of the batteries to survive the Martian night.
The current talk will describe the different thermal environments throughout the mission that are critical for the dimensioning of the Mars Connect probes as well as provide a glimpse into the preliminary design concepts proposed in the frame of the project feasibility study.
