Mars 2020 Mission, Perseverance Rover Launch

[doug]

Not a SpaceX mission, but I'm sure folks here will be following the launch.

Launch

Launch: July 30 at 4:50 a.m. PDT (7:50 a.m. EDT)
Launch Period: July 30 - Aug. 15, 2020
Landing: Feb. 18, 2021
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V-541
Launch Location: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

 

[Grendal]

 

[ecarfan]

Perserverance is the most exciting Mars rover yet! The Marscopter blows my mind. And who cannot love instruments named Sherlock and Watson?

 

[e-FTW]

Perserverance is the most exciting Mars rover yet! The Marscopter blows my mind. And who cannot love instruments named Sherlock and Watson?

Yes! A helicopter on another planet! Mind blown

 

[Chuq]

This one is using the same landing system as was used with Curiosity in 2012? With the sky crane? I remember following that one and being absolutely surprised and amazed that it worked flawlessly. Hopefully they can make it 2 from 2! But I guess we still have several months to wait for that part!

 

[Patrick W]

Not a SpaceX mission, but I'm sure folks here will be following the launch.

Launch

Launch: July 30 at 4:50 a.m. PDT (7:50 a.m. EDT)
Launch Period: July 30 - Aug. 15, 2020
Landing: Feb. 18, 2021
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V-541
Launch Location: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

For those who might want to "literally" follow the mission, JPL-Horizons provides coordinates for those with the proper equipment to follow the craft for the first day or so after leaving Earth. Note that the spacecraft will be way too faint to be seen with naked eye or even binoculars. But with a modest sized telescope (25 to 35cm) and an imager made for taking astro-images it's not that hard to get pictures (I imaged the previous two Mars-bound launches and plan on working this one as well).

HORIZONS Web-Interface

 

[Grendal]

 

[doug]

ULA’s Atlas 5 is NASA’s go-to rocket for nuclear-powered space probes – Spaceflight Now

 

[doug]

 

[e-FTW]

Excellent piece (as usual): NASA set to launch its most complex, ambitious rover yet to Mars

 

[e-FTW]

On the sample return mission:

NASA and the European Space Agency are talking about jointly developing different elements of this mission, possibly for a launch as early as 2026. While there is some limited funding in NASA's budget for a new Mars orbiter, at present the complex plan to retrieve and bring the samples home seems more aspirational than real—we are hopeful that it comes to pass, but not expectant.

Something-something Starship something-something...

 

[Grendal]

Tim Dodd, the EA, does his liivestream play by play of the launch:

 

[doug]

*blink*blink* It's pretty early here on the west coast.

 

[Nikxice]

The Perseverance mission can be followed on Twitter. This morning the spacecraft was quite busy issuing statements. Here's the most recent quote...... "Hello from Space."
https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere

 

[ecarfan]

Very happy that the launch was nominal and Perseverance is now on the way to Mars.

Interesting that the RUAG 5.4m fairing for the Atlas V completely encloses the Centaur upper stage. Seems counterintuitive to design it that way since it adds additional weight but apparently that is necessary to achieve that diameter, which is needed for this particular payload.

 

[doug]

Post launch briefing:

 

[mongo]

Very happy that the launch was nominal and Perseverance is now on the way to Mars.

Interesting that the RUAG 5.4m fairing for the Atlas V completely encloses the Centaur upper stage. Seems counterintuitive to design it that way since it adds additional weight but apparently that is necessary to achieve that diameter, which is needed for this particular payload.

The 5m fairing takes some of the load off of the upper stage.
See tweet from Tory:
Twitter

 

[bxr140]

Yeah, its basically a rigged solution kinda like how many auto manufactures still cram batteries into their existing ICE chassis to make new EVs. Obviously Ariane has been flying the 5m Ruag fairing for decades in a "normal" configuration, and Vulcan is also going to adopt the "normal" configuration.

Atlas 5 was designed around a 4m fairing (the 4m A5 fairing is basically the same as A2 and A3), and the centaur upper stage is about as old as dirt--wrapping the upper stage in the fairing was about the only thing they could do to keep atlas 5 relevant in the 5m space. The only other option would have been to pin all American 5m hopes and dreams on the gold plated Delta4...or...well...I guess that's it, short of designing a new rocket (like they're doing-ish with Vulcan).

 

[Grendal]

Nicely done. ULA is learning from SpaceX and had some nice live visuals from the rocket. The fairing deploy was pretty intense with that extra large fairing. Too bad they didn't have a forward camera on the Centaur stage. It was interesting to see the difference between the Centaur (hydrolox) and the Merlin second stage burns. You can barely tell that the engine is even running.

We've got quite a while before the big landing on Mars event. Go Perseverance.

 

[ecarfan]

The fairing deploy was pretty intense with that extra large fairing.

Even though I knew in advance of watching the video today that the mission was successful, when the fairings detached for a fraction of a second I thought the rocket had exploded! It was pretty dramatic.