Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Great picture from Mars Express

Mars Express boom deployment concerns

Yes, that is a fantastic image. I was just reading in the July 19 issue of Aviation Week that they're still trying to work out any possible glitches in deploying the boom for the MARSIS radar. According to the article (pg. 49):

European Space Agency engineers say the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding Radar (Marsis) on the agency's Mars Express orbiter is now unlikely to be started up before the end of the summer. Following a late-June meeting with Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists, program leaders decided to run additional tests and analysis to determine whether the 40 meter (130 ft) radar antenna boom will deploy correctly. According to a U.S. engineer involved in the project, original specifications on the boom called for a folding beryllium-copper cylinder that could be tested in a 1g vacuum chamber. But to save weight, the metal device was replaced by a folding fiberglass design that cannot be subjected to such tests, the engineer said, and prelaunch simulations of the device were inadequate. Early concerns about clearance issues (AW&ST May 10, p. 17) have given way to worries about possible damage to the boom itself, or a failure to fully deploy it, which could downgrade or scuttle the radar mission, according to Gerhard Schwehm, ESA's planetary mission operations director.

Here's hoping they can resolve the concerns and deploy the boom safely. That sounds like a hell of an instrument.

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