Private Mars Lander - 1
 
One of most ambitious Private Space Mission projects ISS plans to undertake is the Private Mars Lander – 1 (PML-1) which will follow the very successful coattails of the now two famous twin Mars exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, that arrived on Mars in January 2004 and stayed in operation many times longer than they were designed for. The robotics design for these twin Martian rovers has been nothing but extraordinary.
NASA’s next mission to Mars to be launched in April 2011 on Atlas rocket is the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) which will be twice as long as three times as heavy as Spirit and Opportunity rovers were. MSL will collect Martian soil samples and rock cores and analyze them for organic compounds related to possible life now and in the past.
However, unlike the twin rovers, MSL would have a laser for vaporizing a thin layer of surface or rock and analyze elemental composition of such. Also it would be able to collect and crush rock and soil samples and perform chemical analysis in on-board chambers.
NASA has decided on possible best sites to land MSL on via highly detailed images sent to Earth by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Smart landers like MSL need accurate landing and hazard avoidance systems to reach promising, difficult-to-reach science locations. MSL is first interplanetary probe to use precision landing techniques and steer itself down the same way space shuttle does on its atmospheric entry to Earth.
MSL would fly to a planned location above the surface of Mars and then deploy a parachute for its final touchdown. In the final moments before touchdown, the parachute and retrorockets would lower the MSL rover to the surface of Mars on a tether.
ISS’s PML-1 would incorporate some of the best designs and applications as used by NASA in Mars twin rovers and for MSL plus add something more and unusual to complement what NASA has already done and do it at a much lesser cost, but with similar high performance reliability.
Purchase Private Space Mission Pass for Private Mars Lander-1
Login to Private Mars Lander-1 Space Mission Site
| 
