Abstract for SCIOPS 2013 

MSL: 10 months of MSL Operations at JPL and FIMOC, the French Operations Center for ChemCam and SAM

Authors: Charles Yana (CNES), Eric Lorigny (CNES), Vivian LAFAILLE (CNES), Christophe DONNY (CNES), Philippe GUILLEMOT (CNES), René PEREZ (CNES), Laurent PERET (ATOS Origin), Olivier GASNAULT (IRAP), Samuel TEINTURIER (LATMOS)

Following the successful landing of the Curiosity rover in Gale Crater, on August 5, 2012, science operations started at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) right after turning on the instruments minutes after landing. CNES, the French Space Agency, with two scientific laboratories (IRAP and LATMOS), has contributed to two major instruments of Curiosity: the laser-based spectrometer ChemCam (Chemistry Camera), and the analytical suite SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars). CNES engineers along with IRAP and LATMOS scientists actively took part into the preparation of the ChemCam and SAM operations. In particular, CNES developed a control centre based in Toulouse, France, called FIMOC (French Instruments on Mars Operations Centre). 

During the first 90 days of the mission, all the operations took place at JPL. On November 8th, 2012, ChemCam engineers were officially the first team to operate the instrument remotely from FIMOC. The instruments have been operated remotely since that day alternating with LANL (ChemCam) and GSFC (SAM). 

This paper will give an overview of how ChemCam and SAM teams interact remotely with JPL to operate instruments on Mars. One topic will focus on the technical architecture of the ground segment, and how Martian orbiters and the Deep Space Network are used to send commands to the rover and to acquire data from Mars after a day of operations. Two phases will be considered: the first 90 days when the timeline of operations was following Martian days, and the subsequent days when operations follow US western coast hours. A particular emphasis will be given on the FIMOC centre, where both engineers and scientists gather to operate ChemCam and SAM: monitor the instrument health, analyse received data products, participate to the preparation of daily activity plans, and generate instrument sequences to be delivered to JPL.

After more than a year of operations at the time of the conference, a significant experience will have been accumulated, and this paper will show how French operators and scientists at FIMOC benefit from being part of a worldwide project gathering several institutions around the globe to control a Rover on the surface of Mars.