Overview
- Based on interviews with the scientists and engineers who built and now operate the rover
- Explains how the rover has actually functioned on Mars, including the wear on its components
- Collects a wide variety of otherwise inaccessible information on rover engineering, including corrections to previously published work
- Provides a one-of-a-kind reference to a mission that is likely to last for another decade at least, and which will need to onboard numerous scientists and engineers into operational roles
Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books (PRAXIS)
Part of the book sub series: Space Exploration (SPACEE)
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book describes the most complex machine ever sent to another planet: Curiosity. It is a one-ton robot with two brains, seventeen cameras, six wheels, nuclear power, and a laser beam on its head. No one human understands how all of its systems and instruments work. This essential reference to the Curiosity mission explains the engineering behind every system on the rover, from its rocket-powered jetpack to its radioisotope thermoelectric generator to its fiendishly complex sample handling system. Its lavishly illustrated text explains how all the instruments work -- its cameras, spectrometers, sample-cooking oven, and weather station -- and describes the instruments' abilities and limitations. It tells you how the systems have functioned on Mars, and how scientists and engineers have worked around problems developed on a faraway planet: holey wheels and broken focus lasers. And it explains the grueling mission operations schedule that keeps the rover working day in and day out.
Reviews
“It is a fascinating read … . Emily does a great job making the book easy to understand … . I think this is a great book and any engineer who develops (or wants to develop) systems should read it. … I think this is the only book that I am aware of that presents all the required engineering elements to design and build a complex robot system. ... For experienced engineers it is also useful to read.” (David Kohanbash, robotsforroboticists.com, February 2, 2022)
“This book presents an in-depth explanation of how ‘the most complex machine ever sent to another planet’ works. … There are in-depth discussions on wheel design and degradation as well as complete listings of the drill and scoop sampling campaign. Beautifully written and illustrated, Ladawalla’s essay is truly encyclopaedic.” (Richard McKim, The Observatory, Vol. 138 (1267), December, 2018)
“The Design and Engineering of Curiosity is a comprehensive look at how the Mars Curiosity mission became a reality. Lakdawalla, an independent scholar, begins with an overview of the various iterations of the mission, starting with the goal of developing a bigger lander, and shows how the designers converged on the final mission and spacecraft design. … The book has a broad audience, ranging from general readers to the technical community.” (D. B. Spencer, Choice, Vol. 56 (03), 2018)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Lakdawalla has been following the Mars Science Laboratory mission closely since its inception, attending all relevant public meetings, including the last three landing site selection meetings and frequently checking in on its progress from the observation deck over the clean room at JPL.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Design and Engineering of Curiosity
Book Subtitle: How the Mars Rover Performs Its Job
Authors: Emily Lakdawalla
Series Title: Springer Praxis Books
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68146-7
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-68144-3Published: 10 April 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-68146-7Published: 27 March 2018
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 394
Number of Illustrations: 16 b/w illustrations, 209 illustrations in colour
Topics: Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics), Popular Science in Astronomy, Aerospace Technology and Astronautics, Planetology, Astrobiology