Sky crane (landing system)

Sky crane is a soft landing system used in the last part of the entry, descent and landing (EDL) sequence developed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for its two largest Mars rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance. While previous rovers used airbags for landing, both Curiosity and Perseverance were too heavy to be landed this way. Instead, a landing system that combines parachutes and sky crane was developed. Sky crane is a platform with eight engines that lowers the rover on three nylon tethers until the soft landing.

An Illustration of Perseverance tethered to the sky crane.

EDL begins when the spacecraft reaches the top of the Martian atmosphere. Engineers have referred to the time it takes to land on Mars as the "seven minutes of terror."^[1]

Background

Further information: List of landing ellipses on extraterrestrial bodies

The first NASA rover, Sojourner (on the Mars Pathfinder lander), and twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, used a combination of parachutes, retrorockets, and airbags for landing. Curiosity, launched in 2011, weighs nearly 900 kg, and was too heavy to be landed this way, as the airbags needed for it would be too heavy to be launched on a rocket.^[2] Instead, a landing system that combined a protective aeroshell, supersonic parachutes, and sky crane was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) under Adam Steltzner.^[3][4][5] Sky crane is "an eight-rocket jetpack attached to the rover".^[6] This system is also much more precise: while the Mars Exploration Rovers could have landed anywhere within their respective 93-mile by 12-mile (150 by 20 kilometer) landing ellipses, Mars Science Laboratory landed within a 12-mile (20-kilometer) ellipse.^[7] Mars 2020 has even more precise system, and landing ellipse of 7.7 by 6.6 km.^[8]

The Curiosity team invented the sky crane system by studying old Viking landing system—its engines are "an upgraded 'reinvention' of Viking’s throttleable engines"—and landing experience from previous rovers.^[5] The sky crane works much like a helicopter, and the team even consulted with Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter engineers and pilots.^[9]

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  Airbags used for the Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity rovers.
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  Comparison of the Sojourner, Mars Exploration Rovers, and the Curiosity
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  Comparison of landing ellipses for Perseverance, Curiosity, InSight lander, Phoenix lander, and Mars Pathfinder.

Curiosity

Curiosity was the first rover landed using the sky crane maneuver. Following the parachute braking, at about 1.8 km (1.1 mi) altitude, still travelling at about 100 m/s (220 mph), the rover and descent stage dropped out of the aeroshell.^[10] The descent stage is a platform above the rover with eight variable thrust monopropellant hydrazine rocket thrusters on arms extending around this platform to slow the descent. Each rocket thruster, called a Mars Lander Engine (MLE),^[11] produces 400 to 3,100 N (90 to 697 lbf) of thrust. A radar altimeter measured altitude and velocity, feeding data to the rover's flight computer. Meanwhile, the rover transformed from its stowed flight configuration to a landing configuration while being lowered beneath the descent stage by the sky crane system.

This system consists of a bridle lowering the rover on three nylon tethers and an electrical cable carrying information and power between the descent stage and rover. As the support and data cables unreeled, the rover's six motorized wheels snapped into position. At roughly 7.5 m (25 ft) below the descent stage the sky crane system slowed to a halt and the rover touched down. After the rover touched down, it waited two seconds to confirm that it was on solid ground by detecting the weight on the wheels and fired several pyrotechnic fasteners activating cable cutters on the bridle and umbilical cords to free itself from the descent stage. The descent stage then flew away to a crash landing 650 m (2,100 ft) away.^[12][7]

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  Curiosity EDL profile
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  MSL spacecraft exploded view. Sky crane is in the middle(3).
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  Curiosity sky crane at the JPL
• Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror
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  The powered descent stage
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  Artist's conception of Curiosity being lowered from the rocket-powered descent stage.
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  Final stage of the landing before sky crane's separation

Perseverance

Sky crane system was further updated for the Perseverance rover, that is heavier than its predecessor, and weighs 1,025 kg.^[13] During the atmospheric entry, the spacecraft jettisoned the lower heat shield and deployed a parachute from the backshell to slow the descent to a controlled speed. It happens about 240 seconds after entry, at an altitude of about 7 miles (11 kilometers) and a velocity of about 940 mph (1,512 kph). The EDL got new Terrain-Relative Navigation technology, that uses a special camera to quickly identify features on the surface. It is then compared to an onboard map to determine exactly where the rover is heading. Mission team members have mapped in advance the safest areas of the landing zone. If Perseverance can tell that it's headed for more hazardous terrain, it picks the safest spot it can reach and gets ready for the next step. With the craft moving under 320 km/h (200 mph) and about 1.9 km (1.2 mi) from the surface, the rover and sky crane assembly detached from the backshell, and rockets on the sky crane controlled the remaining descent to the planet. As the descent stage levels out and slows to its final descent speed of about 1.7 miles per hour (2.7 kilometers per hour), it initiates the sky crane maneuver. With about 12 seconds before touchdown, at about 66 feet (20 meters) above the surface, the descent stage lowers the rover on a set of cables about 21 feet (6.4 meters) long until it confirmed touchdown, detached the cables, and flew a distance away to avoid damaging the rover. Meanwhile, the rover unstows its mobility system, locking its legs and wheels into landing position.^[14][15][9]

Perseverance successfully landed on the surface of Mars on 18 February 2021 at 20:55 UTC.^[16] Ingenuity reported back to NASA via the communications systems on Perseverance the following day, confirming its status.^[17] NASA also confirmed that the on-board microphone on Perseverance had survived EDL, along with other high-end visual recording devices, and released the first audio recorded on the surface of Mars shortly after landing,^[18] capturing the sound of a Martian wind.^[19]

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  Perseverance EDL Profile
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  Mars 2020 expanded illustration. Sky crane is in the middle.
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  Perseverance sky crane
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  Sky crane separation test
• Perseverance descent and touchdown on Mars (onboard camera views)
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  The sky crane photographed from the rover during descent
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  The rover photographed from the sky crane during descent

References

1. "7 Minutes to Mars: NASA's Perseverance Rover Attempts Most Dangerous Landing Yet". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 26 August 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. Teitel, Amy Shira. "Sky Crane - how to land Curiosity on the surface of Mars". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
3. Heuer, R. D.; Rosenzweig, C.; Steltzner, A.; Blanpain, C.; Iorns, E.; Wang, J.; Handelsman, J.; Gowers, T.; De Bernardinis, B.; Fouchier, R. (1 December 2012). "366 days: Nature's 10". Nature. 492 (7429): 335–343. Bibcode:2012Natur.492..335.. doi:10.1038/492335a. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 23257862. S2CID 4418086.
4. Palca, Joe. "Crazy Smart: When A Rocker Designs A Mars Lander". NPR. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
5. "The Sky Crane Solution | APPEL Knowledge Services". appel.nasa.gov. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
6. "Strange but True: Curiosity's Sky Crane | Science Mission Directorate". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 26 August 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
7. "Image Gallery: Perseverance Rover - NASA". mars.nasa.gov. Retrieved 26 August 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
8. "Perseverance Rover Landing Ellipse in Jezero Crater". NASA Mars Exploration. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
9. Betz, Eric (18 February 2021). "The Skycrane: How NASA's Perseverance rover will land on Mars". Astronomy Magazine. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
10. "Final Minutes of Curiosity's Arrival at Mars". NASA. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
11. Way, David W.; et al. Mars Science Laboratory: Entry, Descent, and Landing System Performance – System and Technology Challenges for Landing on the Earth, Moon, and Mars (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original on 2014-02-25. Retrieved 2023-09-10.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
12. "Orbiter Images NASA's Martian Landscape Additions". NASA. August 8, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2012. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
13. Buongiorno, Caitlyn (17 February 2021). "Mars Madness: How Perseverance will stick the landing during its 7 minutes of terror". Astronomy Magazine. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
14. "Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) - NASA". mars.nasa.gov. Retrieved 26 August 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
15. "'7 minutes of terror': Perseverance rover's nail-biting landing phase". phys.org. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
16. Strickland, Ashley (19 February 2021). "Incredible new images shared by Perseverance rover after Mars landing". CNN. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
17. Strickland, Ashley (20 February 2021). "Ingenuity helicopter phones home from Mars". CNN. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
18. Strickland, Ashley (23 February 2021). "NASA shares first video and audio, new images from Mars Perseverance rover". CNN. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
19. Crane, Leah (2021-02-22). "Perseverance rover has sent back stunning video and audio from Mars". New Scientist. Retrieved 2021-02-24.

External links

• "The Martian Chroniclers" at The New Yorker