![]() ![]() The radioactive fuel is encased in multiple layers of protective blast shielding to ensure it will not rupture in the event of a launch failure. The generator will produce electricity to power the Perseverance rover throughout its mission. The Mars-bound rover carries a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator containing 10.6 pounds (4.8 kilograms) of plutonium dioxide fuel in a ceramic form. The $2.7 billion mission is due to reach Mars and land Feb. After coasting over the Atlantic Ocean and South Africa, the Centaur stage will ignite its RL10 engine a second time for an eight-minute maneuver to propel the Mars 2020 spacecraft to escape velocity.Īfter shutting down the engine nearly 53 minutes into the mission, the Centaur stage will deploy the Mars 2020 spacecraft at T+plus 57 minutes, 32 seconds. The first burn by the Centaur stage’s RL10C-1 engine, which produces 22,900 pounds of thrust, will place the Mars 2020 spacecraft into a low-altitude parking orbit around Earth around 11-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. The RD-180 main engine will fire until T+plus 4 minutes, 22 seconds, when the Atlas 5 will be flying at 13,470 mph (21,680 kilometers per hour) some 309 miles (497 kilometers) downrange from Cape Canaveral. After jettisoning the four strap-on boosters at T+plus 1 minute, 49 seconds, the Atlas 5’s kerosene-burning RD-180 engine will continue firing to power the rocket into space.Īt T+plus 3 minutes, 27 seconds, the Atlas 5 will release its payload shroud that shielded the Mars 2020 spacecraft during the first few minutes of flight through the thick lower layers of the atmosphere. The Atlas 5 will exceed the speed of sound just 35 seconds after firing away from Cape Canaveral, heading southeast from the Florida Space Coast over the Atlantic Ocean. “Atlas is go, Centaur is go, and we are literally chomping at the bit to take this nuclear-powered dune buggy out to Mars,” Bruno said. “This rocket is going to leap off the pad with this relatively tiny payload, so do not blink when they say ignition,” said Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, the 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin that builds Atlas 5 rockets.īruno said that the Atlas 5 rocket, set for its 85th flight since debuting in 2002, is healthy and ready for the start of Thursday morning’s countdown. The entire vehicle at launch will weigh around 1.17 million pounds, or 531 metric tons. The Mars 2020 spacecraft weighs about 9,000 pounds, or 4.1 metric tons, on top of the Atlas 5 rocket. That’s fast enough to break free of Earth’s gravitational grasp. The boosters, made by Aerojet Rocketdyne, will combine with the Atlas 5’s Russian-built RD-180 main engine to provide some 2.3 million pounds of thrust to get the rocket off the ground.Ī single RL10 engine on the Atlas 5’s Centaur upper stage will deliver the Mars 2020 spacecraft on a trajectory away from Earth with a relative velocity of 24,785 mph, or about 11 kilometers per second. ![]() EDT (1150 GMT).įour strap-on solid rocket boosters clustered around the base of the Atlas 5 will give it an extra burst of speed in the first minute-and-a-half of the flight. The 197-foot-tall (60-meter) Atlas 5 rocket rolled out to pad 41 Tuesday morning at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, moving into position for blastoff Thursday during a two-hour window opening at 7:50 a.m. ![]() NASA’s Perseverance rover, set for liftoff Thursday on a journey to Mars, posed some unusual challenges for launch crews working with the robot’s plutonium-fueled power generator, but United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket is uniquely suited for the job, the company’s CEO says. Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, poses with the Atlas 5 rocket that will launch NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. ![]()
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