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Mars Spacecraft Navigation System

The spacecraft used a star scanner and sun sensor to determine its orientation in space during its 500 million kilometer journey to Mars. Navigators planned up to six trajectory correction maneuvers using thrusters fired by hydrazine propellant to ensure the spacecraft arrived at the right location. It communicated with Earth using an X band radio and two antennas, switching to a medium-gain antenna as it got closer to Mars to maintain signal strength.

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Anurag Rana
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76 views1 page

Mars Spacecraft Navigation System

The spacecraft used a star scanner and sun sensor to determine its orientation in space during its 500 million kilometer journey to Mars. Navigators planned up to six trajectory correction maneuvers using thrusters fired by hydrazine propellant to ensure the spacecraft arrived at the right location. It communicated with Earth using an X band radio and two antennas, switching to a medium-gain antenna as it got closer to Mars to maintain signal strength.

Uploaded by

Anurag Rana
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The star scanner (without a backup system) and sun sensor allowed the spacecraft to know its

orientation in space by analyzing the position of the Sun and other stars in relation to itself.
Sometimes the craft could be slightly off course; this was expected, given the 500-million-kilometer
(320 million mile) journey. Thus navigators planned up to six trajectory correction maneuvers, along
with health checks.
To ensure the spacecraft arrived at Mars in the right place for its landing, two light-weight,
aluminium-lined tanks carried about 31 kg (about 68 lb) of hydrazine propellant. Along with cruise
guidance and control systems, the propellant allowed navigators to keep the spacecraft on course.
Burns and pulse firings of the propellant allowed three types of maneuvers:

 An axial burn uses pairs of thrusters to change spacecraft velocity;


 A lateral burn uses two "thruster clusters" (four thrusters per cluster) to move the spacecraft
"sideways" through seconds-long pulses;
 Pulse mode firing uses coupled thruster pairs for spacecraft precession maneuvers (turns).
Communication[edit]
The spacecraft used a high-frequency X band radio wavelength to communicate, which allowed for
less power and smaller antennas than many older craft, which used S band.
Navigators sent commands through two antennas on the cruise stage: a cruise low-gain
antenna mounted inside the inner ring, and a cruise medium-gain antenna in the outer ring. The low-
gain antenna was used close to Earth. It is omni-directional, so the transmission power that reached
Earth fell faster with increasing distance. As the craft moved closer to Mars, the Sun and Earth
moved closer in the sky as viewed from the craft, so less energy reached Earth. The spacecraft then
switched to the medium-gain antenna, which directed the same amount of transmission power into a
tighter beam toward Earth.
During flight, the spacecraft was spin-stabilized with a spin rate of two revolutions per minute (rpm).
Periodic updates kept antennas pointed toward Earth and solar panels toward the Sun.

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