Marking 13 years on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity picks up new expertise

13 years after Curiosity landed on Mars, engineers are discovering methods to make the NASA rover much more productive. The six-wheeled robotic has been given extra autonomy and the power to multitask—enhancements designed to benefit from Curiosity’s power supply, a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG). Elevated effectivity means the rover has ample energy because it continues to decipher how the traditional Martian local weather modified, reworking a world of lakes and rivers into the chilly desert it’s at this time.

Curiosity not too long ago rolled right into a area crammed with boxwork formations. These hardened ridges are believed to have been created by underground water billions of years in the past. Stretching for miles on this a part of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain, the formations may reveal whether or not microbial life may have survived within the Martian subsurface eons in the past, extending the interval of habitability farther into when the planet was drying out.

Finishing up this detective work entails a variety of power. In addition to driving and lengthening a robotic arm to review rocks and cliffsides, Curiosity has a radio, cameras, and 10 science devices that every one want energy. So do the a number of heaters that maintain electronics, mechanical components, and devices working at their greatest. Previous missions just like the Spirit and Alternative rovers and the InSight lander relied on photo voltaic panels to recharge their batteries, however that expertise all the time runs the chance of not receiving sufficient daylight to offer energy.

As a substitute, Curiosity and its youthful sibling Perseverance every use their MMRTG nuclear energy supply, which depends on decaying plutonium pellets to create power and recharge the rover’s batteries. Offering ample energy for the rovers’ many science devices, MMRTGs are identified for his or her longevity (the dual Voyager spacecraft have relied on RTGs since 1977). However because the plutonium decays over time, it takes longer to recharge Curiosity’s batteries, leaving much less power for science every day.

The workforce fastidiously manages the rover’s day by day energy price range, factoring in each machine that pulls on the batteries. Whereas these parts have been all examined extensively earlier than launch, they’re a part of advanced programs that reveal their quirks solely after years within the excessive Martian atmosphere. Mud, radiation, and sharp temperature swings convey out edge instances that engineers could not have anticipated.

“We have been extra like cautious dad and mom earlier within the mission,” stated Reidar Larsen of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which constructed and operates the rover. Larsen led a gaggle of engineers who developed the brand new capabilities. “It is as if our teenage rover is maturing, and we’re trusting it to tackle extra duty. As a child, you may do one factor at a time, however as you turn into an grownup, you be taught to multitask.”

Extra environment friendly science

Typically, JPL engineers ship Curiosity an inventory of duties to finish one after the other earlier than the rover ends its day with a nap to recharge. In 2021, the workforce started finding out whether or not two or three rover duties may very well be safely mixed, decreasing the period of time Curiosity is lively.

For instance, Curiosity’s radio commonly sends information and pictures to a passing orbiter, which relays them to Earth. May the rover discuss to an orbiter whereas driving, transferring its robotic arm, or snapping photos? Consolidating duties may shorten every day’s plan, requiring much less time with heaters on and devices in a ready-to-use state, decreasing the power used. Testing confirmed Curiosity safely may, and all of those have now been efficiently demonstrated on Mars.

One other trick entails letting Curiosity resolve to nap if it finishes its duties early. Engineers all the time pad their estimates for a way lengthy a day’s exercise will take simply in case hiccups come up. Now, if Curiosity completes these actions forward of the time allotted, it should fall asleep early.

By letting the rover handle when it naps, there’s much less recharging to do earlier than the following day’s plan. Even actions that trim simply 10 or 20 minutes from a single exercise add up over the lengthy haul, maximizing the lifetime of the MMRTG for extra science and exploration down the highway.

Miles to go

In truth, the workforce has been implementing different new capabilities on Curiosity for years. A number of mechanical points required a rework of how the robotic arm’s rock-pulverizing drill collects samples, and driving capabilities have been enhanced with software program updates. When a shade filter wheel stopped turning on one of many two cameras mounted on Mastcam, Curiosity’s swiveling “head,” the workforce developed a workaround permitting them to seize the identical lovely panoramas.

JPL additionally developed an algorithm to scale back put on on Curiosity’s rock-battered wheels. And whereas engineers carefully monitor any new harm, they are not fearful: After 22 miles (35 kilometers) and intensive analysis, it is clear that regardless of some punctures, the wheels have years’ value of journey in them. (And in a worst-case state of affairs, Curiosity may take away the broken a part of the wheel’s “tread” and nonetheless drive on the remaining half.)

Collectively, these measures are doing their job to maintain Curiosity as busy as ever.