By Sally Pobojewski
News and Information Services
NASA has chosen a team of U-M atmospheric scientists to develop plans for an unmanned mission to Mars in 1998.
Timothy L. Killeen, professor of atmospheric and space sciences and director of the Space Physics Research Laboratory, is the principal investigator of the MUADEE (Mars Upper Atmosphere Dynamics, Energetics and Evolution) Mission. Killeen will direct the work of a 17-member scientists consortium from six institutions as they develop seven sensing instruments for use on the MUADEE spacecraft.
Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., industrial partner for the MUADEE consortium, will provide one instrument, integrate all instruments, and build the spacecraft to be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
“MUADEE is one of 11 new Discovery Program science missions selected by NASA for further study during this fiscal year,” Killeen said. “The 11 teams will spend 12 months preparing detailed mission proposals. At the end of the year, NASA plans to publish an announcement of opportunity leading to the selection of three missions. If MUADEE is selected, and we are confident it will be, our earliest possible launch date would be the fall of 1998.”
A new NASA program, Discovery Mission development must be completed in less than three years, cost no more than $150 million, and be managed by a scientist from an independent university or research institution, instead of by NASA.
“MUADEE’s goal is to explore the upper atmosphere of Mars,” Killeen said. “We don’t fully understand why the atmospheres of Earth, Mars and Venus have evolved in different ways, even though all three planets were created at the same time.”
Killeen explained that the spacecraft will function in Mars orbit for one Martian year, the equivalent of two Earth years, after a 10-month journey from Earth. During the mission, seven instruments on MUADEE will gather data on atmospheric tides, gravity waves, global circulation, isotopic ratios and temperatures of the Martian upper atmosphere.
“MUADEE also will provide key information on atmospheric drag, orbital lifetimes, propulsion requirements and aerobraking critical to the design of future manned spacecraft that could land on the surface of Mars,” said Bob Jones, Lockheed’s MUADEE project manager.
Once in orbit around Mars, MUADEE instruments will be controlled directly from a Mission Operations Center to be established at the U-M. Data analysis will take place at the Space Physics Research Laboratory.
“U-M scientists have a great deal of experience designing and building flight instrumentation for NASA missions, including the Pioneer Venus orbiter,” Killeen said. “By building on what we’ve learned, we expect to develop MUADEE at a fraction of the cost of previous planetary missions.”
Other members of the MUADEE consortium, in addition to the U-M and Lockheed, are Goddard Space Flight Center; University of Colorado; University of Texas at Dallas; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Arizona; and State University of New York-Stony Brook.
