[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 22 - 12:08:54 ]
Welcome Everyone! Rob Manning is now here and ready to answer your questions :-)

[ Vince-Vince/Boeing - 24 - 12:10:04 ]
Hi Rob

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 25 - 12:10:10 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA-MichelleMock/CoronaCA] Hello Sandy and Rob! Hello Jonathan and Stephanie! Is that student ambassador Stephanie?
Hi Michelle: Glad you could join us again :-)

[ Jonathan-BettisJ - 26 - 12:10:23 ]
Hello Rob

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 27 - 12:10:32 ]
RE: [Jim-jburk] Hello... I'm Jim Burk from the Mars Society. I was wondering if Rob has any comment on the current budget threats from Congress and their impact on MSR.
Hi Jim. We try not to think too mauch about the machinations of congress. Of course I think it would be quite sad to put the brakes on the effort after all we have tried to do to expand Mars exploration without budget increases.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 29 - 12:12:14 ]
RE: [Vince-Vince/Boeing] Hi Rob Thanks for Chatting! The sample return missions will be the most difficult yet(?) Where does the difficulty lie? In the writing the mission software? or navigating the surface launcher (samples)up to the orbiter?
The MSR mission is vcery complicated. Being a former Pathfinder person, MSR seems quite daunting, actually the hardest part is trying to meet the bio-cleanliness requirements and Earth return planetary protection.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 32 - 12:13:48 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] Hi Rob! So, is the plan now to send 2 landers (rovers?), launch the samples back into space and then retrieved by the French orbiter?
That is correct. To save money will will be building 2 identical landers (including the rover and the Mars Ascent vehicles or MAV) to be launched in '03 and '05 on different launch vehicles.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 35 - 12:15:13 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA-MichelleMock/CoronaCA] Hello Rob! Mars is one of my favorite topics since my involvement with Viking in 76. Pathfinder was very exciting. Regarding landings: how will landings for the sample return missions differ from previous landings on Mars. How sensitive is the equipment on board the spacecraft (to withstand a rough landing)?
Actually we will be landing very much like Viking. This lander (nearly twice the mass of Viking) is just too big to bounce!

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 36 - 12:15:55 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] What was the hardest thing when you studied at Caltech?
Making the due dates on all those home work assignments!!!!

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 39 - 12:17:31 ]
RE: [Jonathan-BettisJ] Question for you Rob: How much martian soil are you planning to bring back on this mission?
Great question Jonathan. NASA has asked that we bring back at least 500 grams per mission. These will be made up of mostly (and many) rock cores taken by the lander drill and the rover.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 41 - 12:18:15 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] Is Athena going on '03?
Yes! (Finally). We will also be flying it on the identical lander/rover on '05.

[ Jonathan-BettisJ - 42 - 12:19:29 ]
Stephanie, what exactly is Athena?

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 43 - 12:19:38 ]
RE: [Vince-Vince/Boeing] How will the samples be retrieved once back at Earth? Ocean recovery or land recovery?
Our current think is that we will do what Stardust is doing and land them a UTTR in Utah. The 2 Earth return vehicles are less than a meter wide so we don't want to lose them!

[ Stephanie/Edmonton - 44 - 12:21:24 ]
Athena is the new and improved rover.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 47 - 12:22:06 ]
RE: [Jonathan-BettisJ] How big is this lander and its components in relation to the Pathfinder?
The entire landed system is about 3-4 times as massive as Pathfinder. The top deck that supports the rover and the MAV is about 2.4 meters across - a queen sized water bed!! The lander's payload mass is more massive than the entire pathfinder lander (or the MPL to land this Dec.)

[ Jonathan-BettisJ - 48 - 12:22:18 ]
Thats what I suspected, but for some reason I have heard it referred to as something else. (Don't I look intelligent now!)

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 49 - 12:23:48 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA-MichelleMock/CoronaCA] What is the launch window like? How criticial is it to launch *on time*?
As with all of our Mars missions, we get about a month of time to try to launch. Because the launch vehicles can not be quickly reprogrammed, we only get about one sec to try to make the attempt on each day of that month.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 52 - 12:26:10 ]
RE: [Vince-Vince/Boeing] Will you do life tests on the samples at Mars or wait until the return to Earth?
Currently we have no plans to do much in the way of in-situ biological testing of the samples that the rover and the drill collects. Just getting the sample back to Earth is hard enough! Biologists and geologists tell us tha tthey have big plans for testing these sample when they return in 2008 (thousands of tests are envisioned).

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 56 - 12:27:47 ]
RE: [Jim-jburk] assuming MSR is successful... what are some of the follow on missions being discussed, or are there any?
Depending on who you are, some folks think that we should continue getting better samples after 2008. Others think we should directly attempt to build larger robotic colonies as a prelude to Human exploration.

[ Jim-jburk - 58 - 12:29:03 ]
And of course there are those of us who want the preparations for a human mission to begin yesterday. :)

[ Stephanie/Edmonton - 62 - 12:31:56 ]
Jim, here's the Athena webpage: http://athena.cornell.edu/

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 63 - 12:32:07 ]
RE: [Jonathan-BettisJ] What is your budget for this mission?
hmmmm good question. Again it depends on the details of the question. The cost to do the 2 landed missions in '03 and '05 and to supply the equipment for the French return orbiter ammounts to about 2.5 times Mars Pathfinder (spread over more years to get the dollars constant for each year). The costs do not include what it will take to quarrantine and curate the samples once they return.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 64 - 12:33:52 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] Will the results of the APEX experiment on '01 be very important in the '03,'05 designs.
Yes, in fact the APEX experiment to be tested on '01 will be built (almost exactly the same) to ride on our Athena Rover in '03 and '05.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 66 - 12:36:00 ]
RE: [Sandy/NASAChatHost] Emailed to me from Michelle Mock: In the event that the spacecraft does not land in perfect position, does it have the ability to be readjusted via commands from earth?
Once the lander lands, we can do little to move it around (the fuel & battery power is mostly spent so we can't lift up and fly around again). So we have to do a good job of making sure that the lander does not get into trouble BEFORE it lands. We are looking into design for more rugged landing gear as well as autonomous hazard avoidance.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 67 - 12:38:35 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] Will the landers use the previous orbiters as relays or just use direct communications with Earth.
Both! We need direct to/from Earth radio links so that we can minimize the turn around time (latency) of the telemetry/command cycle so that we can keep the rover busy duing its short 90 Sol mission. But we also need to send down a LOT of data so we use the once or twice a day data-dump pass to an overhead orbiter too.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 70 - 12:40:44 ]
RE: [Vince-Vince/Boeing] Will core drilling be done from the surface launcher or the rover?
The Athena rover has a rock corer (drill and a cache) and the lander will have a drill mounted on the lander deck that will reach down and take meter-deep cores. This drill is likely going to be provided by Italy. Both of these will put caches inside the nose cone of the Mars Ascent Vehicle. (MAV)

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 73 - 12:42:19 ]
RE: [Kes-KesJean/studants/GreenacresJHS] Hello is this the chat with Rob Manning???
Welcome Kes. Yes, this is the chat with Rob Manning. Glad you could join us!

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 75 - 12:42:25 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] Exactly what engineering field did you take?
I studied Math & Physiscs before getting into Electrical Engineering/Computer science. But robotics and space travel really turned me on!!

[ Kes-KesJean/studants/GreenacresJHS - 77 - 12:43:27 ]
Glad to be here

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 78 - 12:44:08 ]
RE: [Kes-KesJean/studants/GreenacresJHS] Glad to be here
Do you have a question you'd like to ask Rob?

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 80 - 12:46:39 ]
RE: [Jim-jburk] What is the difference between Athena and Sojourner?
The Athena Rover is MUCH more versitile than little Sojourner. First off is is about twice the length (good coffee tabel size versus microwave size). It will be able to rove will out beyond the lander because it has its own stero pan cameras mounted on a mast so that operators can plan traverses without relying on the lander's camera 9as was done on Pathfinder). Finally it has a LOT more sceince plus the drill and cache! It might also be able to speak directly with an orbiter once a day.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 85 - 12:49:35 ]
RE: [Michael-Michael/StarClass] What approval (if any) is needed for NASA/JPL (or anyone else) to return samples from another planet back to Earth?
Very good question. We have folks already on board who are working with US agencies (EPA, USDA, State, etc) and international ones too who will be involved in ensuring that risks are minimized. My project manager, Bill O'Neil can fill you in more on this subject.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 86 - 12:51:16 ]
EVERYONE: THERE ARE ONLY 10 MINUTES LEFT in today's chat with Rob. He is doing his best to answer all remaining questions (thru' Stephanie's #84).

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 87 - 12:52:30 ]
RE: [Vince-Vince/NavalPostgraduateSchool] What approaches are being looked at to ensure the sample return launcher can rendezvous with the orbiter/return vehicle given an error on orbit/landing site/etc?
We manage errors for rendezvous the same way that I did for landing with Pathfinder. The design has to widely envelope the worst cases (we call this design margin). We also have strategies that will alow us to handle real failures. For example if eith erthe '03 or '05 orbiting samples (OS) fail to get off the ground the orbiter ius designed to bring back either one or both of them.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 88 - 12:54:11 ]
RE: [Jonathan-BettisJ] What impact will the '01, '03 missions have on future Mars settlements?
We really don't know. For one thing knowing more about the actual chemistry of the Mars dust as well as potential past or present biota could alter the strategy of what we need to d o to protect the astronauts when they arrive.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 89 - 12:55:06 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] When will the '03 lander launch and get to Mars?
launch in July of '03 and arrive in December of '03.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 90 - 12:57:19 ]
RE: [Vince-Vince/Boeing] As the Lander Manager, what will be your most difficult challenge?
Getting every one from all the organizations (JPL, Lockheed Martin, NASA HQ, LaRC, etc etc) to work to gether as a team. The technical challenge is in dealing with this very large lander and making sure that we don't blow our mass limits!

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 92 - 12:59:20 ]
RE: [Vince-Vince/Boeing] Thanks Rob and Sandy!
You're welcome. Glad you could join us! Come back again in two weeks for ken Edgett's chat: Thursday, Aug. 12, 11 am, PDT.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 94 - 13:00:38 ]
EVERYONE: At the end of today's chat please let us know how we did by filling out a short survey at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats/qchat-surveys THANKS :-)

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 96 - 13:00:48 ]
RE: [Kes-KesJean/studants/GreenacresJHS] how much money dose it take to send a unmammed mission to Mars???
The price has historically been all over the map. The first 2 US landers on Mars were billions of dollars. The next one, Mars Pathfinder (the one that I worked on) was less than the cost of an expensive movie ($250 M). The one that is on it way to Mars right now (Mars Polar Lander) was even cheaper. The one I am working on is about the same price, but the payaload it carries (the Athena Rover and the MAV, etc) makes it more expensive (about twice) that either of these two most recent missions.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 97 - 13:01:37 ]
RE: [Kes-KesJean/studants/GreenacresJHS] bye all
BYE KES! Please join us in two weeks!

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 98 - 13:02:01 ]
RE: [Vince-Vince/Boeing] I'll be here!
Great :-)

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 99 - 13:03:22 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] What are the advantages and disadvantages being a mission manager as opposed to a mission engineer?
Being a manager means that I am in the positions on making the final decisions on what we are going to do (nearly so), especially if it means spending money. I have to keep the job within a fixed budget. But this job takes me away from doing technical work personally. I see the work that others do for me and I wish I could help out. I guess I miss being an engineer!

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 102 - 13:05:28 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] Would it be too late to fix any problems encountered on the '01 APEX on the '03 rover? There would be enough time to fix it on the '05 rover, right?
That's right. There is not enought time to do much mechanical fixing between our missions (26 months between launches). But we can fix the software and most importantly we can fix HOW we use the equipment and incorporate our lessons learned from operations on the surface.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 103 - 13:06:11 ]
RE: [MichelleMock/CoronaCA-MichelleMock/CoronaCA] Thanks Sandy and Rob!
You're welcome Michelle! Thanks for your questions: I was able to post the first one.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 104 - 13:06:54 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] Thanks again, Sandy and Rob, for yet another informative Mars chat!
Thank YOU Stephanie! It's grat to have you back in the Mars chat room :-) Hope you can join us again in two weeks with Ken Edgett!

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 105 - 13:08:02 ]
RE: [Michael-Michael/StarClass] When you say that Athena will be able to travel much further out from the lander than Sojourner, how far roughly?
We think (we having built and tested it yet so we can't say for sure) that the Athena rover can easily travel a kilometer or more. If traveling was all that it hadd to do it would be easy. But searching for good rock and soil samples, analyzing them and aquiring them is the time consuming part. This will likely restrict our mission to within a few hundred meters of the lander.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 106 - 13:10:35 ]
RE: [Stephanie/Edmonton] What improvements have been made on the Marie Curie rover?
Marie Curie Rover is nearly identcal with the Sojourner rover (in fact you might recall having seen it running around in our sandy Mars Room (sand box) during the Pathdfinder mission. It is the same rover! We had to clean it up, fix some bugs in the design (e.g. the gyro) and a few minor other things like adding a place for a hook!!! so that the arm can lower it down to the surface. But essentially it is the same rover.

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 107 - 13:11:44 ]
Bye everyone, I need to get back to my budgets!! (yuck!)

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 108 - 13:14:03 ]
Don't forget the short chat survey at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats/qchat-surveys See you next time :-)

[ RobManning/Mars2003&05 - 109 - 13:14:08 ]
Opps, I told you that the '03 launch is in July of '03, it is in late May of '03. My mistake!! (July is the month of the '05 lander launch).

[ MichelleMock/CoronaCA-MichelleMock/CoronaCA - 110 - 13:14:21 ]
Thanks Rob! It was a great chat. I hope we get to chat with you again during the school year!