We have encountered a dust storm- this has the potential to impact our mission. You have been selected to research dust storms. Your task is to make accurate recommendations to your crew on how to tackle this emergency in order to continue with this important mission. You must follow all the steps in this TASK CARD without skipping a single step in order for the rover to return safely.
When the rover encounters an emergency, you must contact your flight director. You will be speaking directly to the flight director, so please enable your microphone. Follow these steps to begin.
Locate the CHAT in your call software
Select “Flight Director” from the drop-down menu
Type the following message
This is ___ “There is an emergency with the rover. We have encountered a dust storm. Please stand by for further instructions.”
Once you have typed in the chat, be sure to hit SEND or hit ENTER so the flight director can read it and deliver the message to the mission commander.
Now that you have alerted the flight director, please read the infographics and watch the videos below to answer the corresponding questions. Please record your responses in the notepad on the right- you will need them to help your team!
Dust Storms. An overview. Dust storms on Mars are common. The dust blown around damages rovers. Dust on Mars is similar to talcum powder and stick to everything. From an aerial view, the sand dunes look like ocean ripples.
How a rover to endures a dust storm. For a rover to make it through, they need to minimize power usage to keep the batteries as fully charged as possible. If the batteries have dipped below 24 volts, the rover enters lower power fault mode, this is when all subsystems, except a mission clock, are powered off. The clock is set to wake and alert the computer so it can check power levels. The computer then determines how the batteries don't have enough power, and if they don't it will induce itself back into sleeping mode. If there is a massive amount of dust, the rover will most likely not have enough sunlight to charge up for days, leaving itself stranded in sleeping mode for days.
Next, send another message to the flight director .
Locate the CHAT in your call software
Select “COM ” from the drop-down menu
Type the following message:
“The batteries have dipped below its energy requirements. If there is a massive amount of dust the rover will have to be stranded in sleeping mode for days.”
Next, please read the infographic about dust devils and watch the video below. Then, use the knowledge you acquired about dust storms to write your answer to the open response question below. And, check out the photocollage on dust storms and dust devils!
Dust Devils. What are they? Rotating columns of air and dust on Mars. How do they form? Hot air from the surfaces rises, forming a current of air-a whirlwind. When do they appear? During a dust storm!
Dust storm images https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/mars-whirling-dust-devil
Notepad
What is the difference between dust storms and dust devils?
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Here’s the story of Curiosity!
Curiosity is the biggest and most accomplished rover ever sent to Mars. Curiosity was sent to Mars on November 26, 2011 and began roaming the red planet on August 5th, 2012. The rover was set out to explore the possibility of life on Mars- and not little green men! Curiosity had the responsibility to answer one big question, Did Mars ever have the right environmental conditions to support small life forms called microbes? Curiosity’s tools discovered mineral and chemical evidence of past habitable environments on Mars. Curiosity explores Gale crater as it picks up soil, rock, and air samples. Curiosity carries a whopping ten scientific instruments and is equipped with seventeen cameras!
Now that you know the story of Curiosity, it’s your turn to write your own story about Cursiosity and it’s next adventure on Mars! In your story, Curiosity can discover anything on Mars- the possibilities are endless!