CalREN-2 Key to Global Scientific Analysis of Mars Polar Lander Encounter

LOS ALAMITOS, CA - December 3, 1999: When the Mars Polar Lander begins to transmit data about the surface of Mars back to Earth, this historic mission to Mars will chart a new course for planetary science data support. California's CalREN-2 is the initial Earth high-speed network link for disseminating data from this mission around the globe.

CalREN-2, CENIC's advanced services network, is California's contribution to the national Internet2TM initiative. CalREN-2 and Abilene, an Internet2 backbone network, will provide connectivity for the collaboration between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), UCLA, and the team sites during the lander event and will continue to support the collaboration post landing. The team sites where co-investigators will analyze the data include --

• Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, USA
• Finnish Meteorological Institute in Helsinki, Finland
• Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Lindau, Germany
• University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, USA

"Network reliability is key to the timely analysis of the lander data and we've chosen to use JPL's CalREN-2 and Abilene connections to provide scientific support for this deep planetary space mission. By utilizing our CalREN-2 connectivity, we were able to provide the project not only with the most cost-effective solution, but also with a high bandwidth, reliable solution - up to 622 Mbps via the OC-12 link between JPL and UCLA. This is a shining example of the reliability of our CalREN-2/Internet2 network and of a new mode for planetary scientific data support," said Claudia de Luna, Technical Manager, JPL Institutional Network Development. "This is the first time JPL has not provisioned dedicated circuits for this type of effort," de Luna noted.

When the lander arrives on the surface of Mars, a science package -- the Mars Volatiles and Climate Surveyor (MVACS) -- will be activated. The lander will transmit data 157 million miles back to Earth where scientists at the team sites around the globe will analyze it to determine if water ice is present in the Martian surface, as well as measure the temperature and monitor the local Martian weather.

MVACS is an integrated payload with four major science elements: a stereo surface imager; a robotic arm with camera; a meteorological package of pressure, temperature, wind, and water vapor sensors; and a thermal and evolved gas analyzer.

The JPL Institutional Network group has worked with the Mars Project and with JPL Flight Network personnel to provide the required connectivity to key team sites via JPL's CalREN-2 connection and national connectivity via the Abilene network, as well as other partner networks such as the National Science Foundation's vBNS.

"This network infrastructure is critical to deliver science data products from JPL to my team at UCLA and on to co-investigators (Co-Is) at partner institutions for our timely analysis of the mission's scientific data," noted Dr. David Paige, MVACS principal investigator at UCLA. However, Paige pointed out that "loss of connectivity, while impacting this science data analysis effort, will not endanger the lander itself."

Brian Court, the CalREN-2 Network Operations Center (NOC) manager, stated that "The NOC, in cooperation with JPL and UCLA, has tuned CalREN-2 for maximum performance and implemented backup connectivity over CalREN-2's ATM (asynchronous transmission mode) infrastructure at OC-3 [155 Mbps] to be used in the event of a failure of the primary path to JPL. In addition, we're cooperating with JPL's freeze schedule and will avoid changes to the operational network during the freeze period."

JPL/Caltech is a founding partner of the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC). JPL/Caltech is also a member of the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID), which manages the national Internet2 initiative.

About CENIC

CENIC is a not-for-profit corporation formed by the California Institute of Technology, the California State University, Stanford University, the University of California, and the University of Southern California to advance the use of communications technology in research and education at California's universities. CENIC Associates include Cisco Systems, IBM, Pacific Bell and Sun Microsystems.

CENIC operates CalREN-2 for qualified public and private sector institutions for research and learning purposes. CalREN-2 is California's segment of the national Internet2 initiative and is partially funded by the National Science Foundation.

About Internet2

The Internet2 project is being led by over 160 universities, working with industry and government, to enable and facilitate advanced network applications for research and education.

More information about the NASA mission is available at the following web sites:
http://marslander.jpl.nasa.gov/mission_overview.html
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://marslander.jpl.nasa.gov/lander/science.html

More information about CENIC's CalREN-2 is available at:
http://www.cenic.org

More information about Internet2 is available at:
http://www.internet2.edu