NASA's Mars 2020 Comes Full Circle
Aiming to pinpoint the Martian vehicle's center of gravity, engineers took NASA's 2,300-pound Mars 2020 rover for a spin in the clean room at JPL.
Engineers took NASA's
Mars 2020 for a spin on Aug. 29, 2019. The 2,300-pound
(1,040-kilogram) Martian vehicle was rotated
clockwise and counterclockwise at about 1 revolution per minute on what is
called a spin table in the clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. (The
rotation was speeded up in the video above.) The engineers were looking for the
rover's center of gravity, or the point at which
weight is evenly dispersed on all sides.Establishing the
rover's center of gravityis
a key part of the assembly process and helps ensure that the spacecraft travels
smoothly from launch to entry, descent and landing on Mars as calculated. Engineers
can add weights in order to help balance out the vehicle. In the end, they
affixed nine tungsten weights totaling 44 pounds (20 kilograms) to the rover
chassis at predetermined attachment points to get the center of gravity just
right."The spin
table process is similar to how a gas station would balance a new tire before putting
it on your car," said Lemil Cordero, Mars 2020 mass properties engineer at
JPL. "We rotate the rover back and forth and look for asymmetries in its mass distribution.
Then, similar to your gas station putting small weights on the tire's rim to bring
it into balance, we'll put small balance masses on the rover in specific
locations to get its center of gravity exactly where we want it."This was the
assembled rover's first spin table test to determine its center of gravity; a
second and final spin table test will occur at a NASA facility at Cape
Canaveral in Florida next spring.JPL is building and will manage operations of the Mars 2020
rover for NASA. The rover will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V
rocket in July 2020 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the
agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management.When the rover lands atJezero Crateron Feb. 18, 2021, it will
be the first spacecraft in the history of planetary exploration with the
ability to accurately retarget its point of touchdown during the landing
sequence.Charged with returning
astronauts to the Moon by 2024, NASA's Artemislunar exploration planswill establish a
sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028. We will use what we
learn on the Moon to prepare to send astronauts to Mars.To
submit your name to travel to Mars with NASA's 2020 mission and obtain a souvenir
boarding pass to the Red Planet, go here by Sept. 30, 2019:https://go.nasa.gov/Mars2020PassFor more information about the mission, go to:https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/