The First Crane on Mars

Sky Crane: Seven Minutes of Terror

After almost 50 years in the crane business, you begin to think you’ve seen it all, and there’s nothing out there that can shock you. Well, I’m here to tell you that life is full of surprises. Last night I watched an animated re-creation of the lowering of the rover Curiosity to the surface of Mars by a “Sky Crane” … yes, I said a crane! 

Sky Crane, NASA’s Overhead Bridge Crane lowering the Mar’s rover Curiosity to the planet’s surface

When the Mars Perseverance rover hits the Red Planet’s atmosphere, it travels at more than 10,000 miles per hour. So fast that the rover would vaporize if it weren’t tucked inside a heat-resistant, carbon fiber capsule that can withstand temperatures up to 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit. The problem was that a parachute could only slow down the spacecraft to about 200 mph, which would have resulted in the 2000-pound rover making a 3-billion-dollar crater on the surface of Mars.

The Mar’s scientists said that the Sky Crane was the result of ruling out every other possible solution until it was their last and final choice.

Slowing Sky Crane from 10,000 to 200 MPH

Among the myriad of “out of this world” challenges, because of the distance from Earth to Mars, there is a 7-minute delay in communications. To put this in a crane operator’s frame of reference, just imagine lowering a 3-billion-dollar load to the ground. But that’s not the half of it. Every time you push the pendant button, you have a 7-minute delay in the action, both starting and stopping! This is what the NASA engineers called “the seven minutes of terror.”

The 2000 pound and 3 billion dollar, Mar’s rover Curiosity safely lowered to Mars on an Overhead Crane

The Mar’s scientists said that the Sky Crane was the result of ruling out every other possible solution until it was their last and final choice.

For the full story, take a look at this story on Discovery Magazine. 

I’ll let you know if any future OSHA rulings are issued on SkyCranes, but I’m not sure if they’ll be covered in OSHA 1910.179 Overhead Cranes and Gantry Cranes or OSHA 1926 SubPart CC; I’ll keep you posted.