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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Space 2 | 1/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_2 | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:10:05.798867+00:00 | kb-cron |
Deep Space 2 was a NASA space probe, part of the New Millennium Program. It included two highly advanced miniature space probes that were sent to Mars aboard the Mars Polar Lander in January 1999. The probes were named "Scott" and "Amundsen", in honor of Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen, the first explorers to reach the Earth's South Pole. Intended to be the first spacecraft to penetrate below the surface of another planet, after entering the Mars atmosphere DS2 was to detach from the Mars Polar Lander mother ship and plummet to the surface using only an aeroshell impactor, with no parachute. The mission was declared a failure on March 13, 2000, after all attempts to reestablish communications following the descent went unanswered. The Deep Space 2 development costs were US$28 million.
== Overview ==
Deep Space 2, also known as "Mars Microprobe," was the second spacecraft developed under the NASA New Millennium Program to flight-test advanced technologies concepts for space missions. The purpose of the program was to do high-risk technology demonstration, with a motto "Taking risks to reduce future danger." The project was led and operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, with contributions from The University of Arizona, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona University, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and others. The Deep Space 2 mission was intended to do an engineering validation of the concept of a penetrator probe, impacting the planet at high velocity, instead of slowing down for a soft landing as done by the probes conventionally used for planetary exploration. The penetrator concept is potentially a lower-cost approach, and has a proposed advantage of giving access to the subsurface of the planet being studied (in this case, Mars.) Though the primary objective was to validate the technology, the probes also had goals for science analysis at Mars. These goals were “1) to derive the atmospheric density, pressure, and temperature throughout the entire atmospheric column, 2) to characterize the hardness of the soil and possibly the presence of layers at a scale of tens of centimeters, 3) to determine if ice is present in the subsurface soil, and, 4) to estimate the thermal conductivity of the soil at depth.” The eventual goal for such probes was to deploy networks “around a planet using no more resources than a single landing under conventional assumptions.” The probes were launched with the Mars Polar Lander on January 3, 1999, on a Delta II 7425 Launch Vehicle.
=== Spacecraft === Each probe weighed 2.4 kg (5.3 lb) and was encased in a protective aeroshell. They rode to Mars aboard another spacecraft, the Mars Polar Lander. Upon arrival near the south polar region of Mars on December 3, 1999, the basketball-sized shells were released from the main spacecraft, plummeting through the atmosphere and hitting the planet's surface at over 179 m/s (590 ft/s). On impact, each shell was designed to shatter, and its grapefruit-sized probe was to punch through the soil and separate into two parts. The lower part, called the forebody, was designed to penetrate as far as 0.6 meters (2 ft 0 in) into the soil. It contained the primary science instrument on board, the Evolved Water Experiment. The upper part of the probe, or aftbody, was designed to remain on the surface in order to transmit data through its UHF antenna to the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in orbit around Mars. The Mars Global Surveyor would act as a relay in order to send the data collected back to Earth. The two sections of the probe were designed to remain connected via a data cable.
== Science Instruments == The probes were each equipped with five instruments to enable analysis of the atmosphere, surface, and subsurface. • Descent accelerometer: The descent accelerometer was a commercially available sensor meant to measure accelerations from drag during descent. Its readings could “be used to derive a density profile of the Martian atmosphere” based on the acceleration data combined with knowledge of the probe's speed and ballistic coefficient. • Impact accelerometer: The impact accelerometer was built with a range of ±120,000 g for the large expected acceleration on impact with Mars's surface. • Meteorological sensor: provides atmospheric pressure and temperature data at the landing site. This sensor was located on the back of the probe so that it would stay above the surface after impact. It was sampled and recorded by the telecommunications “which enables the acquisition of meteorological data in the event that the microcontroller failed during the impact.” • Soil Thermal Conductivity Temperature Sensors: Twin platinum resistor temperature sensors would determine rates of cooling in the forebody once submerged in the surface. • Evolved Water Experiment: A small sample collection system in the forebody would bring Martian regolith into a heating chamber. The sample would then be heated to allow spectroscopy measurements on the resulting vapor using a miniaturized tunable diode laser. The Evolved Water Experiment was the primary instrument on board the probe.