Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent, and Landing System Development Challenges

Abstract

Well before Curiosity’s successful landing at Gale Crater on the night of 5 August 2012, the entry, descent, and landing team had to contend with a number of development challenges that threatened the system architecture, the spacecraft’s performance, and its safety. Given the ambitiousness of the landing system, perhaps it comes as no surprise that these challenges existed in all phases of system development, spanning design, testing, and operations and across all portions of flight from the top of the atmosphere through touchdown. These challenges, which included hardware, software, and flight dynamics issues, required a variety of different responses and wide range of expertise within the team. The ways the team answered the challenges were the difference between success and failure in both reaching the launch pad and reaching the surface of Mars.