Reconstruction of Entry, Descent, and Landing Communications for the Phoenix Mars Lander

Abstract

The Phoenix spacecraft landed successfully on 25 May 2008 on the northern plains of Mars to conduct a five-month study of the Martian environment. In response to NASA's requirement to provide spacecraft communications during critical events, the Phoenix Mars Lander provided continuous telecommunications coverage during entry, descent and landing allowing NASA's mission control teams and the public to witness in real time the events that led to the successful landing. Phoenix thereby employed a number of first-time communication strategies. The paper briefly reviews the constraints and degrees of freedom in designing an entry, descent and landing communications link and presents Phoenix's novel and robust implementation approach to entry, descent, and landing communications. It then compares the actual and the predicted communications performance using data collected by the Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance, and Mars Express orbiters as well as by terrestrial ground stations. The overall lessons learned and conclusions described herein can serve as a pathfinder for the entry, descent, and landing communications architecture and implementation of future Mars landed missions.

Verification and Validation of the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover Entry, Descent, and Landing System

“…During EDL, Curiosity transmitted Multiple Frequency-Shift Keying (MFSK) tones via its X-band transponder to the DSN while at the same time sending an 8-kbit/s data stream via its UHF radio to assets orbiting Mars. Fortunately, this part of the test program could rely on a significant body of experience, gained during the 2008 Phoenix Mars Lander and the 2004 Mars Exploration Rover missions, to guide the scope of the necessary testing [50][51].…”

ExoMars Schiaparelli Direct‐to‐Earth Observation using GMRT

“…JPL has supported EDL for various probes and landers via a Direct‐To‐Earth observation, this includes among others, the Huygens Titan Probe (Folkner et al, ; Witasse et al, ), Phoenix Mars Lander (Kornfeld et al, ), and Curiosity (Oudrhiri et al, ; Schratz et al, ; Soriano et al, ).…”

“…Unlike other recent missions to Mars' surface, Schiaparelli does not have Direct-to-Earth capability, and it relies on the Mars Orbiters to relay its UHF communications back to Earth. JPL has supported EDL for various probes and landers via a Direct-To-Earth observation, this includes among others, the Huygens Titan Probe Witasse et al, 2006), Phoenix Mars Lander (Kornfeld et al, 2011), and Curiosity (Oudrhiri et al, 2013;Schratz et al, 2014;Soriano et al, 2013).…”