Thread by @WeAreSpaceScout

NASA Post-Launch conference for the Mars Perseverance Rover, thread:

Attendants:
Jim Bridenstine
Thomas Zurbucken
Glaze
Matt Wallace
Omar Baez, LD
Tory Bruno, ULA
#Mars2020 #CountdownToMars

Bridenstine: Launch was right on time, pinpoint accuracy, is "on its way to mars"

There's a communications issue, Bridenstine says "it's something we've seen before", "We're using the DSN to receive signals from Mars right now." DSN is very sensitive and made to capture faint signals. Mars 2020 is too close and much too strong, and we haven't been able to lock

"This is not unusual and everything is going according to plan". Again, a thank you to @torybruno at ULA from Bridenstine, along with a general thank you to ULA.

@Dr_ThomasZ now speaking. Very thankful that spacecraft is now in space, and thanking all partners. "This entire launch, from the beginning, through now, we do so with cameras on, and we communicate clearly and directly and openly, and inspiration comes from taking that risk."

Lori Glaze now speaking. "I do have something a little special - we are with this mission taking the whole world with us. As part of that, we ran a campaign with JPL to invite the world to help us with the Countdown to Mars." Now sharing a video of #CountdownToMars.

Matt Wallace, deputy project manager, now speaking. "My gratitude to the people who have supported this project for the past 7-8 years" especially the past couple of months.

@ulalaunch also gave a "perfect launch, couldn't have aimed us any better." 140/140 for ULA.

"What we've been dealing with just today, the spacecraft looked great, we get telemetry via the launch vehicle all the way through upper stage separation." After sep, the vehicle is in darkness and solars aren't generating enough power to activate hi-power transmitter.

Transmitter did activate as needed once in sunlight, and was received, but NASA could not achieve a lock on the telemetry. It is being received, but cannot be read at this time.

"We know, and we have had issues in the past before, such as Curiosity, had this issue, where we've saturated the receiver at the ground station, and it takes us a little while to figure out how to configure the ground station so we can de-modulate that signal and read it."

Update: "We've been able to lock onto that telemetry, and we'll be able to receive information about the spacecraft and its health very soon."

Now, Omar Baez, Launch Director @NASA_LSP. "Honored, proud, ecstatic." "It was a very quiet count for us, about the only excitement was a couple of instruments dropping out with the range, and at T- 20 minutes the earthquake at Pasadena."

"The vehicle (Atlas V) performed perfectly, we released at just over 25,000 mph, and we'll make that separation distance for locking on [to telemetry] in a couple of days."

Now, @torybruno , CEO/President of @ulalaunch. "Atlas performed really nominally throughout the mission, and ended with an extraordinarily accurate orbital insertion. The only excitement was the earthquake, which was actually Mighty Atlas crouching to leap off the pad!"

Now Q&A. "How do you verify that the craft has properly arrived at Mars, and for EDL, is this essentially a copy of Curiosity?"

Wallace: "We'll spend the next 6 mo. or so in cruise, doing health checks for EDL, which is by far most difficult. We start prep 8 days out."

"We do land in a way very similar to Curiosity, we come in at 12,000 mph, entry capsule slows us down, steered hypersonically to the landing site, and at M2 supersonic parachute is deployed, slowing down to 150 mph, then heat shield deploys, and here's where EDL differs."

"We do have a new capability, a hazard avoidance system, it's enabled us to target Jezero Crater, which has many landing hazards. We take a picture coming down, and we find a map onboard from MRO imagery, and once we know where we are, spacecraft is diverted from hazards."

"This is done during powered descent, where the skycrane deploys the rover."

Next question, Marcia Dunn of @AP. "How much longer do we have to get a full read of spacecraft health?"

Wallace: Team is looking through telemetry as we speak, looking at thermal conditions, telecomms systems, faults, anomalies, etc. Expect update in 30-60 mins.

Next, @lorengrush of @verge. "Is there any extra risk introduced by not being able to communicate with the craft at AoS, or is it just for peace of mind?"

Wallace: "The spacecraft is designed to be in space, it's inherently stable, we've got plenty of time. Nothing urgent."

"We got such a good insertion from the launch vehicle that we've got 15 days, probably well beyond that, to make our first trajectory correction burn."

@Free_Space with @aviationweek: "How far away does Perseverance need to be before it enters true Deep Space modes of communication?"

Wallace: "The spacecraft moves pretty fast, that helps a lot with respect to saturation. So, really, within hours, the power will drop."

Question for Bridenstine: "When does the American public realize space exploration is worth it?"

Bridenstine: "I think all of America is very proud and excited about this mission, and the ones that came before it, and those that run today."

Moderator asking Omar: "What's the next mission for @NASA_LSP?"

"Our next mission is Sentinel-6 from Vandenberg. And quite a few other missions to fly out a year later."

"Good to hear the manifest is full over there."

For @torybruno, is there anything different with this Atlas V configuration?

Tory: Sure. Planetary protection maneuver makes this possibly the cleanest Mars spacecraft ever. Also, adding the MMRTG late into the flight, required adding a cleanroom onto the VIF.

Many considerations had to be taken into effect, such as COVID, Plutonium handling, etc.

Irish TV question: "We saw a blink-and-you-miss-it video of spacecraft sep, I wonder if we're gonna see any further video? And for Wallace, what time of day are you planning to land on Mars?"

"As far as the landing goes, I'm not sure."

Tory: "We have a little bit more video than that, we can certainly make it available. What I will do for you, as with every mission, is we'll publish the Bulls-eye chart, that shows the error for each parameter. You're probably gonna see +/- perfect more or less"

Many: This mission has more camera and video than we've had on any mission. The video we'll get on EDL will be stunning, there's cameras looking up into the parachutes, images of the skycrane, we've basically taken COTS cameras and distributed them across the spacecraft.

Moderator: Tell us about the helicopter Ingenuity.

Lori: I'm not sure people can grasp just how difficult it is to fly on another planet. To get lift from a wing, you need air, and the density of Mars' atmosphere is 1%. To fly is incredibly challenging, but JPL proved possible.

Question: "What are kind of the steps that take us from here to there, what do you see as the next set of missions?"

Lori: The next step that will move us to Human exploration is the Mars Sample Return mission. It's actually the next step and will demonstrate more capabilities.

That mission will demonstrate how to launch from the surface of Mars, get those samples and put them in to the rocket and launch them, we'll also demonstrate rendezvous in space around another planet.

That orbiter will also have to return to Earth from Mars, and these are all capabilities we will need.

@Dr_ThomasZ: Around the same timeframe, we're also focused on finding water resources, to have available for humans. As we go to the moon with astronauts, we're going to...

...learn all these capabilities that allow us to bring humans to Mars in the late 30s."

@SciGuySpace with @arstechnica. "Can someone clarify whether this spacecraft is in safe mode?"

Wallace: "We weren't really sure when we started, but it appears we're in normal cruise mode. We had a minor temperature transient that may have put us into safe mode."

Social media q's. Landing date? Feb 18, 2020, 3:30 EDT?

"30-60 days after we land, maybe 50-90 Sols, we hope to start flying Ingenuity."

"How significant will it be if we find signatures of ancient or present life?"

@Dr_ThomasZ: "That's the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night, not in fear, but in excitement. That makes us change the way we even think about ourselves as species. It's the holy grail."

@JimBridenstine: "I think there'd be no bigger discovery in the history of humanity if we found life on another planet. If we were to make that discovery, everything from that point forward would be studying that life. I also think it will enable us to do more than ever."

Social media Q: "Are the cameras onboard Perseverance better than Curiosity?"

Wallace: "They are." EDL cameras are 1080p, science MastCams are zoom-able, engineering cameras dispersed about the rover too are significantly higher res than Curiosity, 20 MP color vs. 1 MP B&W.

Question from Space.com: "What's the next 7 months looking like for the team, and any way that is shaped by the pandemic?"

@JimBridenstine: "When we think about this particular mission, it was in trouble, and people were worried about a 2020 launch at all."

"Adding Ingenuity made it even more complex, at one point we had a cracked heatshield, adversity all along the way but this is true for any project. But what we didn't expect is the pandemic. Add that all together plus corona, and a large workforce staying at home,

and the rest going to work with PPE, etc., I'm not going to lie, it's a challenge, it's very stressful, but the teams made it happen. Tory Bruno said it earlier, we can not be more proud."

Lori Glaze: "NASA centers across the country all came together to try to make sure we got Mars 2020 to the launchpad today. It was truly a team effort, and in every single case, everyone said yes, we'll do whatever we can to help. From providing aircraft to PPE.

But it was not easy. It's been a real challenge and I have to say that I think all of us within planetary science are so excited that we've pulled this off, a lot of work, I'm proud of my team, JPL, etc, and I'm glad we've made it."

@KeithCowing of @NASAWatch. "The world could use some good news right now, how is NASA make the Perseverance mission a bright midst in a gloomy winter?"

@JimBridenstine: "The key word there is astrobiology. It's very apparent we have places that could be inhabitable."

"These are the kind of things that NASA can do in very difficult times."

@Dr_ThomasZ: "This is a bright light, I believe that so much. How we're communicating: I think we share here is we really aspire to open communications in a more broad fashion for STEM research."

"The way we're doing that, as we innovate new missions, we're innovating new communications."

"Yes, it's a launch, but it's the bright light we're talking about. Yes, it's a mission, but we're talking about transformative science here. Just like missions are reinvented as we go, we also need to reinvent communication."

One more question. Toughest: "When do you project astronauts will arrive on Mars?"

@JimBridenstine: "The challenge is and always has been political. POTUS' budget request right now is the highest NASA's ever had in nominal dollars, and it's going higher, with bipartisan support.

We need to go to the moon sustainably, to make sure we can live on another world safely, we've got the robotic precursor missions such as today's, and human precursors, such as Artemis. We love Apollo, but the challenge is that it's ended.

We can do it, it's just going to require financial support. To congressmen: when you think about the budget request, think about today, think about DM-2, think about the landing in February. We can do it, it just requires belief from the public."

Closing remarks. For more information on today's mission, you can go to nasa.gov, mars.nasa.gov, and mars.nasa.gov/perserverance. Have a great day everyone, and keep looking up.