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Tetrahedron Graphite Bolts: Uprighting

The spacecraft lander is a protective tetrahedron-shaped shell that houses the rover during impact. It opens like petals after landing to upright the rover. Each petal is connected to the base by a motorized hinge strong enough to lift the entire lander weight. Onboard accelerometers detect gravity to signal which petal to open first and place the rover upright for its descent onto Mars' surface.

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Anurag Rana
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44 views

Tetrahedron Graphite Bolts: Uprighting

The spacecraft lander is a protective tetrahedron-shaped shell that houses the rover during impact. It opens like petals after landing to upright the rover. Each petal is connected to the base by a motorized hinge strong enough to lift the entire lander weight. Onboard accelerometers detect gravity to signal which petal to open first and place the rover upright for its descent onto Mars' surface.

Uploaded by

Anurag Rana
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The spacecraft lander is a protective shell that houses the rover, and together with the airbags,

protects it from the forces of impact.


The lander is a tetrahedron shape, whose sides open like petals. It is strong and light, and made of
beams and sheets. The beams consist of layers of graphite fiber woven into a fabric that is lighter
than aluminium and more rigid than steel. Titanium fittings are glued and fitted onto the beams to
allow it to be bolted together. The rover was held inside the lander by bolts and special nuts that
were released after landing with small explosives.
Uprighting[edit]
After the lander stopped bouncing and rolling on the ground, it came to rest on the base of the
tetrahedron or one of its sides. The sides then opened to make the base horizontal and the rover
upright. The sides are connected to the base by hinges, each of which has a motor strong enough to
lift the lander. The rover plus lander has a mass of about 533 kilograms (1,175 pounds). The rover
alone has a mass of about 185 kg (408 lb). The gravity on Mars is about 38% of Earth's, so the
motor does not need to be as powerful as it would on Earth.
The rover contains accelerometers to detect which way is down (toward the surface of Mars) by
measuring the pull of gravity. The rover computer then commanded the correct lander petal to open
to place the rover upright. Once the base petal was down and the rover was upright, the other two
petals were opened.
The petals initially opened to an equally flat position, so all sides of the lander were straight and
level. The petal motors are strong enough so that if two of the petals come to rest on rocks, the base
with the rover would be held in place like a bridge above the ground. The base will hold at a level
even with the height of the petals resting on rocks, making a straight flat surface throughout the
length of the open, flattened lander. The flight team on Earth could then send commands to the rover
to adjust the petals and create a safe path for the rover to drive off the lander and onto the Martian
surface without dropping off a steep rock.

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