JPL engineers host lunch

By Tina Nazerian     11/8/12 6:00pm

 

Curiosity brought a group of Rice undergraduates, graduates and professors together for lunch in Duncan Hall on Thursday, Nov. 1. 

Ravi Prakash and Bobak Ferdowsi, two of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers who developed the Mars rover over the course of a decade, traveled from California to speak about building the rover. 

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Following a lunch reception, Director of the Rice Space Institute Michael Massimino moderated a discussion and a question-and-answer session. 

Discussion topics ranged from the difference between JPL and other NASA centers to anything the two wished they could have done as undergraduates. 

JPL differs from other NASA centers in that it is more flexible and university-like, Ferdowsi said. 

"I think each center has its own culture in some ways, and JPL sort of developed this culture in expertise in robotics ... that's unique, you know, within the NASA center," Ferdowsi said. "I don't think everybody gets the opportunity to put stuff on other planets, necessarily. I think it's a happy medium between maybe a more traditional aerospace company and feeling like a college campus." 

JPL also tends to have a younger workforce, Prakash said. 

During the lecture, a piece of a parachute tested on a wind tunnel, similar to the parachute used during Curiosity's landing, was passed around to the audience. 

The actual parachute helped Curiosity reach Martian ground safely by reducing its extreme speed, Prakash said. 

"We had about seven minutes to get to the ground safely without causing a big old crater," Prakash said. "What this parachute does is it takes us from going supersonically ... to about 100 miles an hour." 

Upcoming projects to Mars include the 2014 orbiter Mavern, the Insight, a stationary lander with seismometer, in 2016 and some sort of orbiter and rover combination for 2018 and 2020. Apart from expeditions to Mars, a spacecraft called Juno is currently headed toward Jupiter, and Europa and Titan - moons of Jupiter and Saturn, respectively - are being considered for future missions. 

An emerging trend in space exploration is private corporations like Space X, which has goals of putting people on Mars in the foreseeable future. 

"Dealing with people's lives is a very different game than an autonomous vehicle," Ferdowsi said. 

As for the more technical aspects of the Curiosity mission, the team operates on Mars time - a Martian day is 40 minutes longer than an Earth day. The scientists see which locations might be more promising, and the data acquisition plan must be ready by 3 p.m. Curiosity moves 1.7 inches per second so that it is more likely to stay safe on unknown terrain. 

Ferdowsi said the experience of working on the Mars rover has been enjoyable. 

"Even though a decade may seem like a long time, it goes by pretty fast, and it's really enjoyable," Ferdowsi said. "It's a very satisfying experience, and I'm looking forward to doing the next one." 

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