five four three two one liftoff and the
Titan 4 with its more spacecraft display
the top
in the late 1990s NASA is planning to
conduct an unmanned mission to Mars its
purpose is to collect soil samples for
return to earth and to perform other
scientific experiments this video
depicts one possible scenario for the
three-year mission two payloads are
launched aboard to Titan for rockets
upon arrival at Mars an arrow capture
maneuver is used to place each payload
into an elliptical orbit one payload
contains a Mars rover and a Mars orbiter
with an earth return vehicle the other
payload contains a Mars ascent vehicle
and an imaging and communications
orbiter
shortly after a circularization burn the
asset vehicle separates from the imaging
and communications orbiter performs an
entry maneuver and descends to the
Martian surface
similar to the SM vehicle the Mars rover
lands equipped with artificial
intelligence and a stereo video camera
it spends a year exploring the Martian
surface during this time it transmits
digital video images back to earth and
collect soil samples
when sampling operations are complete
the rover is instructed to rendezvous
with the a sent vehicle once there the
sample canister is transferred the
ascent vehicle then rotates to the
vertical launch position and the rover
departs to conduct further scientific
studies ignition occurs and the boost
module separates from its launch
platform
after an attitude maneuver the vehicle
is placed in the same orbit as the Mars
orbiter a radar scan is performed to
locate the SN vehicle
upon acquisition of signals the orbiter
performs a series of maneuvers to
rendezvous and dock a docking complete
signal initiates transfer of the sample
canister to the earth return vehicle
the ascent vehicle then undocks to allow
separation of the earth return vehicle
from the orbiter
the return vehicle performs an injection
maneuver to initiate trans earth cruise
when thrust terminates the engines are
jettisoned and solar arrays are deployed
for the one-year trip back to earth
upon arrival at Earth the return vehicle
deploys the earth aerocapture capsule
during aerocapture friction from the
Earth's atmosphere slows the capsule
after aerocapture
the aeroshell is detached and a burn is
performed to place the vehicle in the
space stations orbit
the return vehicle is retrieved by a
space station based orbital maneuvering
vehicle the sample canister is
quarantined at the station until it is
retrieved by a space shuttle for return
to Earth