ASSEMBLY, TEST, AND LAUNCH OPERATIONSFOR THE MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS

摘要

In January of 2004, NASA’s twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, successfully landed onopposite sides of the Red Planet after a seven month Earth to Mars cruise period. Both vehicleshave operated well beyond their 90 day primary mission design life requirements. TheAssembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO) program for these missions presented uniquetechnical and schedule challenges to the team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Amongthese challenges were a highly compressed schedule and late deliveries leading to extendeddouble shift staffing, dual spacecraft operations requiring test program diversification andresource arbitration, multiple atypical test configurations for airbag/rocket landings and surfacemobility testing, and verification of an exceptionally large number of separations, deployments,and mechanisms. This paper discusses the flight system test philosophies and approach, andpresents lessons learned.