Next Mars Orbiter
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The Next Mars Orbiter (NeMO, earlier known as the Mars 2022 orbiter) is a proposed NASA
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...
with high-resolution imaging payload and two solar-electric
ion thruster An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. An ion thruster creates a cloud of positive ions from a neutral gas by ionizing it to extract some electrons from its atoms. The i ...
s. The orbiter was initially proposed to be launched in September 2022 to link ground controllers with rovers and landers and extend mapping capabilities expected to be lost when the ''
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter The ''Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' (''MRO'') is a spacecraft designed to search for the existence of water on Mars and provide support for missions to Mars, as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. It was launched from Cape Canaveral on Au ...
'' and ''
2001 Mars Odyssey ''2001 Mars Odyssey'' is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectro ...
'' stop functioning, but officials elected to focus on flying the ''Perseverance'' rover first to cache various samples for a later
NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return The NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return is a proposed Large strategic science missions, Flagship-class Mars sample return (MSR) mission to collect Martian rock and soil samples in 43 small, cylindrical, pencil-sized, titanium tubes and sample-return mi ...
that will incorporate a Mars telecom orbiter, now envisioned for the late 2020s.


Features

Key features under study include solar electric
ion drive An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electrically powered spacecraft propulsion, electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. An ion thruster creates a cloud of cation, positive ions from a neutral gas by ionizing i ...
engines, better
solar array A photovoltaic system, also called a PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to abs ...
s, and broadband laser communications (optic communication) between Earth and Mars. The orbiter is conceptually similar to the
Mars Telecommunications Orbiter The Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) was a cancelled Mars mission that was originally intended to launch in 2009 and would have established an Interplanetary Internet between Earth and Mars. The spacecraft would have arrived in a high orbi ...
, canceled in 2005, and could be a technology precursor for a future round-trip sample return mission and human expeditions to Mars. Robert Lock is leading the concept studies for the 2022 orbiter. Concern in NASA is that the currently used relay satellites, ''2001 Mars Odyssey'' and ''Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'', may stop functioning, resulting in the need to press the ''
MAVEN MAVEN is a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars to study the loss of that planet's atmospheric gases to space, providing insight into the history of the planet's climate and water. The name is an acronym for "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution" w ...
'' science orbiter into use as a backup telecommunications relay. Since the highly elliptical orbit of ''MAVEN'' limits its usefulness as a relay for surface operations, NASA will lower its orbit from to between altitude, where it can serve as a relay while continuing its science mission. Another suggested feature under study is "the sample rendezvous capture and return capability". The samples cached by the
Mars 2020 Mars 2020 is a NASA mission that includes the rover ''Perseverance (rover), Perseverance'', the now-retired small robotic helicopter ''Ingenuity (helicopter), Ingenuity'', and associated delivery systems, as part of the Mars Exploration Progra ...
rover would be placed in Mars orbit by a future Mars ascent vehicle. From there, the orbiter would rendezvous, transfer the samples into a capsule and send it back to Earth.


Propulsion

The proposed orbiter would be propelled with two solar-electric
ion thruster An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. An ion thruster creates a cloud of positive ions from a neutral gas by ionizing it to extract some electrons from its atoms. The i ...
s; one engine would be active while the other one would be a spare. Electrical power to the engines would be provided by advanced solar arrays that generate 20 kW. An ion engine would give the spacecraft significant orbital flexibility for long-term support of future missions, opportunistic flybys of Phobos and
Deimos Deimos, a Greek word for ''dread'', may refer to: In general * Deimos (deity), one of the sons of Ares and Aphrodite in Greek mythology * Deimos (moon), the smaller and outermost of Mars' two natural satellites Fictional characters * Deimos (comi ...
, as well as the added capability of orbit support—rendezvous and capture—for a sample return mission. An ion engine would also allow access to multiple latitudes and altitudes to optimise relay contacts.


Suggested payload

* Broadband laser communications (optic communication) between Earth and Mars *
High resolution Image resolution is the level of detail of an image. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail. Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies ...
imager (30 cm/pixel) * Potential for rendezvous and capture of soil samples * Water ice detection and mapping * Potential for additional instruments from international partners


Proposed sample return

The orbiter mission has been suggested by the
Planetary Science Decadal Survey The Planetary Science Decadal Survey is a serial publication of the United States National Research Council produced for NASA and other United States Government Agencies such as the National Science Foundation.National Academy of Sciences, Nation ...
to be one of three missions of the proposed
Mars Sample Return A Mars sample-return (MSR) mission is a proposed mission to collect rock and dust samples on Mars and return them to Earth. Such a mission would allow more extensive analysis than that allowed by onboard sensors. Risks of cross-contamination ...
(MSR) campaign. Samples would be collected and cached by the
Mars 2020 Mars 2020 is a NASA mission that includes the rover ''Perseverance (rover), Perseverance'', the now-retired small robotic helicopter ''Ingenuity (helicopter), Ingenuity'', and associated delivery systems, as part of the Mars Exploration Progra ...
mission and would be left on the surface of Mars for possible later retrieval. The orbiter would be launched on a medium-class vehicle, reaching Mars in about nine months and set to aerobrake down to a circular orbit over six to nine months. The third mission of the proposed MSR campaign, the lander, would nominally be launched two years after the orbiter launch. The lander would deploy a "fetch rover" to retrieve the sample caches. A container holding the samples would be launched by a
two-stage A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...
,
solid-fueled Solid fuel refers to various forms of solid material that can be burnt to release energy, providing heat and light through the process of combustion. Solid fuels can be contrasted with liquid fuels and gaseous fuels. Common examples of solid fue ...
Mars ascent vehicle (MAV) and placed in a orbit comparable with the new orbiter and perform a rendezvous while in Mars orbit. The container would be transferred to an Earth entry vehicle (EEV) which would bring it to Earth, enter the atmosphere under a parachute and hard-land for retrieval and analyses in specially designed safe laboratories.


Status

Some NASA officials consider the Mars 2022 orbiter an "essential orbital support for sample return", "significant" in maintaining the Martian communications infrastructure, and desirable for the continuity in remote sensing. The President's FY2017 Budget provided $10 million to begin early conceptual work on the proposed Mars orbiter. In July 2016, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory awarded five $400,000 sub-contracts to conduct concept studies. The five engineering companies are
Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...
,
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Lockheed Martin Space is one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. It has its headquarters in Littleton, Colorado, with additional sites in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; Sunnyvale, California; Santa Cruz, California; Huntsville ...
,
Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military technology provi ...
,
Orbital ATK Orbital ATK Inc. was an American aerospace manufacturer and defense industry company. It was formed in February 9, 2015 from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems (ATK). Orbital ATK designed, built, and de ...
, and
Space Systems/Loral SSL, formerly Space Systems/Loral, LLC (SS/L), of Palo Alto, California, is a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Maxar Technologies. SSL designs and builds satellites and space systems for a wide variety of government and commercial cust ...
. However, in August 2017, Jim Green of NASA's
Planetary Science Division The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is one of the six directorates that constitute NASA. Its responsibility is to define and direct research into scientific questions of interest, shari ...
stated that a 2022 launch for the orbiter was "probably off the table", as it would be too difficult to assemble an orbiter with all of the desired features in that time frame. Jim Watzin of NASA's
Mars Exploration Program Mars Exploration Program (MEP) is a long-term effort Exploration of Mars, to explore the planet Mars, funded and led by NASA. Formed in 1993, MEP has made use of orbital spacecraft, lander (spacecraft), landers, and Mars rovers to explore the p ...
stated in September 2017 that the orbiter may have to be cancelled, citing that "the likelihood of all of the relay orbiters failing is so low that no more investments are needed for that purpose." In February 2018, NASA announced that it was moving ahead with plans to alter the orbit of the ''
MAVEN MAVEN is a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars to study the loss of that planet's atmospheric gases to space, providing insight into the history of the planet's climate and water. The name is an acronym for "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution" w ...
'' orbiter to have it serve as a communications relay. It will be lowered to altitude, where it can serve as a relay while allowing it to continue its science mission. In March 2018, NASA officials decided that the ageing ''
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter The ''Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' (''MRO'') is a spacecraft designed to search for the existence of water on Mars and provide support for missions to Mars, as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. It was launched from Cape Canaveral on Au ...
'' (MRO) will be managed such that it will continue service for about ten more years, and the program will now focus its resources on flying a sample-return mission first. The ''
2001 Mars Odyssey ''2001 Mars Odyssey'' is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectro ...
'' orbiter will also be managed to continue operating until about 2025. A new Mars relay orbiter is likely to take part in the sample-return architecture envisioned for the late 2020s.


See also

*
ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO or ExoMars Orbiter) is a collaborative project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Roscosmos agency that sent an atmospheric research orbiter and the ''Schiaparelli'' demonstration lande ...
*
Laser communication in space Laser communication in space is the use of free-space optical communication in outer space. Communication may be fully in space (an inter-satellite laser link) or in a ground-to-satellite or satellite-to-ground application. The main advantage o ...
*
List of missions to Mars This is a list of spacecraft missions (including unsuccessful ones) to the planet Mars, such as orbiters, landers, and rovers. Missions ;Mission Type Legend: Landing locations In 1999, Mars Climate Orbiter accidentally entered Mars ...


References

{{Portal bar, Solar System, Spaceflight Missions to Mars Proposed NASA space probes 2020s in spaceflight Communications satellites of the United States Laser communication in space Proposed NASA satellites