ROVER D1 Press Conference: "We will be on Mars by 3/18!"

PGL Mars ROVER Team D1 is confident that they will have a successful mission. pic.twitter.com/dmaGCmjaDD
— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) February 27, 2015

PGL Mars ROVER Fleet for Preflight Processing

PGL Mars ROVER Fleet for Preflight Processing #PBL pic.twitter.com/T8KWbmV5lH
— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) March 9, 2015

Only 72 Steps to go before PGL Mars ROVER Launch!

Almost there! 360 tasks down.... 72 to go before PGL Mars ROVER Launch! @NASAJPL @Stephist @lyletav @MACNY_MfgAssoc pic.twitter.com/NRZ4wU9xic
— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) March 3, 2015

PGL: Reconfigures in Preparation for iROV Development

CorNav Success

Acquired coordinates. Sequence reached destination pic.twitter.com/Jb9bOOPiGz

— PGL: ROVER Downlink (@PGLrover) January 31, 2014

MFO Searches for North

LAS Run. Facing West. pic.twitter.com/EkSjT8ONok

— PGL: ROVER Downlink (@PGLrover) January 31, 2014

Successful Mars EDL

Wisdom has landed. pic.twitter.com/Gfe4h10wSa

— PGL: ROVER Downlink (@PGLrover) January 31, 2014

First Images of Mars

Thanks @marscuriosity for the coordinates to rock in question. PGL ready to take it from here pic.twitter.com/WTA24d9Ut7
— PGL: ROVER Downlink (@PGLrover) January 31, 2014

IDEP Temp Probe in Test Bed

PGL ROVER IDEP 1 Functioning in the test bed. @LEGO_Group pic.twitter.com/7wVGzfYTr8
— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) January 29, 2014

4 meter EDL Testing Video

PGL Employees Working with NASA

Special thanks to @lyletav of @NASAJPL for working with students at @ESMSchoolDist on their PGL Mars ROVER project! pic.twitter.com/e89ooZgtgq
— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) January 23, 2014

LAS Testing in Mars Yard

Landing apparatus separation tests in Mars yard. @ESMSchoolDist @BrandonRothCNY @NASAJPL_Edu pic.twitter.com/pGhTZeYY7X
— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) January 22, 2014

EDL Team Constructing Parachute

PGL ROVER Parachute Construction. Info at http://t.co/4UDzRNyWB9 @DesignSquad @NSTA @edutopia @NOVAeducation pic.twitter.com/LiGfgPw15P
— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) January 21, 2014

Installing Magnetic Field Sensor

ROVER C1 having magnetic field sensor installed in prep for upcoming mission. @ESMSchoolDist @LEGO_Group @NASAJPL pic.twitter.com/FBgwy9rcEp
— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) January 17, 2014

ROVER Test Bed "Mars Yard" Constructed

#PGLROVER Test Bed AKA "Mars Yard" constructed at http://t.co/1RubMmkHad @TACNY @STEMx @STEM_Works @StemEdCoalition pic.twitter.com/FTcE8cwIAA
— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) January 13, 2014

Determining mass of #PGLROVER Dummy Load for EDL Drop Testing. #PBL @JPLDLN @NASAJPL @NASAJPL @NASADLN @DesignSquad pic.twitter.com/9PKcF9Rmun

— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) January 13, 2014

NASA -JPL Commissions PGL to Design ROVERs

Students kick off #PGLROVER project with the help of @NASAJPL @JPLDLN @DonnaDeSiato @TACNY @ESMSchoolDist #pbl pic.twitter.com/QXmYqiAFrd

— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) January 9, 2014

PGL ROVER UPDATE!

PGL News: #pglrover in cruise configuration ready for EDL Design Testing. @JPLDLN #pbl @NASA pic.twitter.com/OMkP9AXdP3

— Jason Fahy (@FahyScience) January 9, 2014

Mission Overview

NASA-JPL’s Mars ROVER Curiosity (MSL) has discovered a rock specimen of interest on Mars. Pine Grove Laboratories has been commissioned by NASA to design, construct and deploy 8 ROVERS that will land on the Martian surface, navigate to the area of interest and collect a variety of data on the rock specimen. Once deployed, the only interaction between the ROVER and Mission Control will be data sent back via live feeds from on-board cameras and instruments. Landing is scheduled for January 31, 2014!

Design Challenge #1 in (Science Groups of 4)

Problem Statement: ROVER must be gently deposited on to surface of Mars.

Design Statement: Design a self-contained Landing Apparatus that can gently deposit ROVER on Mars.

Constraints:

• Design must address:
• Air Resistance
• Terminal Velocity
• Force of Impact
• "Drive-off" (LAS)
• Materials are limited to:

Research / Brainstorm:

• Complete Entry Descent and Landing (EDL) sequence SILENTLY ALONE!
• Describe EDL sequence you developed with your science group.
• Combine the best elements of each of your brainstorm into a group EDL sequence on colored sheet.

A to A8

B to A7

C to A5

D to A6

Online Stopwatch

Rock Abrasion Tool Deployed on Mars