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Phoenix update

Scientists report on the progress of the Phoenix lander exploring the northern plains of Mars during this Sept. 29 update.

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Two shuttles sighted

Stunning aerial views of shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour perched atop launch pads 39A and 39B on Sept. 20.

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Endeavour to pad 39B

Space shuttle Endeavour made the journey from Kennedy Space Center to pad 39B in the predawn hours of Sept. 19.

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MAVEN to Mars

NASA has selected the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, or MAVEN, for launch to the Red Planet.

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Endeavour to the VAB

For its role as a rescue craft during the Hubble servicing mission and the scheduled November logistics run to the space station, Endeavour is moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

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STS-125: The mission

A detailed step-by-step preview of space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to extend the life and vision of the Hubble Space Telescope.

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STS-125: The EVAs

The lead spacewalk officer provides indepth explanations of the five EVAs to service Hubble during Atlantis' flight.

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STS-125: The crew

The seven shuttle Atlantis astronauts hold a press conference one month before their planned launch to Hubble.

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Amid struggles, Mars Science Lab still targets '09 launch
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW

Posted: October 10, 2008

NASA decided on Friday to keep the agency's next mission to Mars on track for launch next year, but officials could not say how much the move would cost or where the money would come from.


An artist's concept of the Mars Science Laboratory rover. Credit: NASA/JPL
 
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin met with senior Mars program officials Friday to discuss ballooning costs and cramped schedules facing the Mars Science Laboratory mission, an advanced rover the size of a Mini Cooper car.

Griffin opted to keep the spacecraft's launch on schedule for next year and chose not to delay or cancel the troubled mission.

"It's easy to say let's just cancel it and move on, but we've poured over $1.5 billion into this, the science is critical and it's a flagship mission in the Mars program," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's science mission directorate.

But the probe will need extra money to be ready for launch during a brief one-month window that opens next September, said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars exploration program.

"We have put about $300 million more in this mission to date than what we confirmed it at two years ago," McCuistion said. "We know that if we're going to launch in 2009 or 2011, additional budget resources will be necessary to do that."

The $300 million of extra funding MSL already received helped cover earlier development problems. That puts the current total cost at $1.9 billion, but that figure is sure to go up even more, officials said.

Money to keep MSL on schedule will have to come from other NASA programs or be appropriated by Congress, according to the space agency.

"Schedule is money," McCuistion said. "Whenever you try to maintain schedule, it costs money to do that."

The extra funding would accelerate the mission's test schedule and add personnel to the program, McCuistion said.

"I fully believe that Congress will support us as we go forward on this because they recognize the importance of the mission," McCuistion said.

If NASA must find the money within its own budget, officials will first look to transfer funding from current and future Mars missions.

"The long-standing policy in the science mission directorate is to look within the Mars program first, and if we can't enough money there, to look in the broader planetary program," Weiler said.

Future missions to Mars include MAVEN, a newly-selected orbiter to study the Red Planet's atmosphere. NASA and international partners are also planning to dispatch a probe to return soil samples from Mars by the end of the next decade.

NASA leadership attempted to curtail operations of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers earlier this year in an attempt to save money for earlier MSL cost overruns, but the request was later withdrawn.

But NASA managers refused to say precisely how much money is needed or what missions could be at risk.

McCuistion said officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the center in charge of the MSL mission, submitted estimates of the cost overrun. He declined to give any specifics until the numbers were taken up by the White House and Congress.

"Until we finalize those numbers, I can't actually discuss the sources," McCuistion said. "We haven't fully resolved where it's going to come from."

Weiler said he hopes to be able to find funding from projects that are under-budget with money left over, but that depends on how much funding MSL needs.

"As long as we think we have a good technical chance to make it, we're going to do what we have to do," Weiler said.

Next year's MSL launch period, governed by the positions of Earth and Mars in the solar system, opens on about Sept. 15 and closes Oct. 15, 2009, McCuistion said.

The next launch opportunity doesn't come until the end of 2011.

"Mars comes around every 26 months, which is why a slip to 2011 is not desirable if we can help it," McCuistion said.

The budget issues mainly stem from delays in critical hardware and software deliveries, officials said.

The most pressing problem is with a batch of actuators, or motors, to drive the probe's robotic arm and turn the rover's wheels. The actuators are also used in the platform's drill and the system that will handle surface samples collected by the rover.

"Those are still late and those drive assembly in many areas," McCuistion said.

Some of the actuators contain more than 600 individual parts to generate the torque required to move parts of the rover.

McCuistion said titanium gears inside the actuators were not strong enough for the mission and had to be replaced by stainless steel.

The components are built by Aeroflex Inc. in New York. NASA engineers have been helping the company speed up the delivery, and the actuators are now expected to arrive at JPL by the end of November, McCuistion said.

Engineers are also working to overcome software challenges and trouble with the development of a critical new landing radar system, officials said.

The project had to switch heat shield materials last November after the original compound failed qualification testing. Engineers also ran into problems during testing of a parachute to slow the spacecraft before touching down on Mars.

Those issues have been corrected, but they cost money, McCuistion said.

Except for the actuators, spacecraft assembly is progressing well. Environmental testing is expected to begin by the end of November, officials said.

The rover and cruise stage are largely complete, and workers have finished putting together the lab's inventive descent stage, dubbed the "sky crane."

After scorching through the Martian atmosphere, the entry capsule will release the rover and sky crane attached by a long bridle. The sky crane will use thrusters to gently lower the rover to the surface before cutting the cord and flying away to crash land in a safe area.

Past Mars landers have used traditional rocket-powered descent engines or giant airbags to cushion the impact on the surface. Mars Science Laboratory uses a mix of those two designs.

Officials blamed the mission's complexity for many of its budget and schedule problems.

"It's very difficult to estimate cost on something you haven't done before," McCuistion said.

The 2,183-pound spacecraft is more than four times heavier than the Spirit and Opportunity rovers currently exploring Mars.

Griffin scheduled another meeting for early January to review the mission's technical and budget issues again. Project officials met with Griffin three times this year to discuss the mission's problems.

McCuistion said he expects the issues to have more clarity by January because most of the late hardware and software should be completed by then.

"Those pieces need to come along, and many of those are critical to retaining the margin we have and making the launch," McCuistion said.