Sensors and Actuators - Fachbereich Physik der Universität ...

Anwendungsbeispiel – Marsrover Sojourner
The Watchplate containing two Glenn dust
adhesion experiments
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The Mars rover, Sojourner , on Mars after
descending Lander ramp:
For The Mars Pathfinder Mission a small
(10-kilogram or 22-pound) rover was
carried to the red planet by Mars
Pathfinder. Mike Krasowski and Larry
Oberle of the Optical Instrumentation
Technology Branch working with Gary
Hunter of the Sensors and Electronics
Technology Branch and other colleagues at
NASA Glenn provided a Quartz Crystal
Monitor to monitor ambient Martian dust.
Scientists now believe that the surface of
Mars is a lot more dusty than they had
believed previously. The noontime air
temperature is also significantly higher than
we had expected. Quantitative results from
the MAE await receipt of data taken at
temperatures closer to design values.
The IES data reduction electronics for the
MAEQCM experiment.
Members of the Instrumentation and Controls Technology division were asked to develop a
sensor to measure the mass of the dust settling on the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner's solar
array panel after JPL approached NASA Glenn in 1992 and offered the opportunity to
design experiments to be flown on the Mars Pathfinder mission. Dr. Gary Hunter of the ICtd
was familiar Quartz Crystal Microbalances (QCM's) which could be adapted for this
application. A commercially available source for this sensor was soon identified. This
sensor, made by QCM Research, had already flown on the Shuttle and had been used to
make similar measurements. Hence, the QCM was chosen to be a part of the MAE
(Materials Adherence Experiment) on Pathfinder. Dr. Landis of NASA Glenn had previously
been active in advocating an experiment which measured the degradation of solar arrays
on Mars. However, this experiment needed a way to measure the dust deposited on the
surface of the solar array.