A Mars surface simulator: design considerations
- Paper ID
IAF-66-017
- author
- company
IIT Research Institute
- country
U.S.A.
- year
1966
- abstract
This paper postulates the existence of a survivable soft-landed experimental package on the surface of Mars in the 1970 time frame. Design work necessary to ensure safe landing of an experimental package is well along in several areas, such as reentry and impact survival. Post-landing survival of a Mars experimental package still remains relatively undeveloped. In the course of an investigation while with the Bendix Systems Division, the author considered some of the problems which might be expected to arise during a protracted stay on the Martian surface. The focus was on the survival and correct operation of experiments. An apparatus, not yet constructed, is proposed to deal with the alleged problems. As a limitation, let us accept the premise that very little in the way of new factual information on the Mars surface will probably become available before money is committed to the development of hardware suitable for landing and survival on the Mars surface. It therefore seemed advisable to this author to consider what could be done in the way of a physical simulation of the Martian planetary surface environment based on our limited knowledge of the planet.