Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (128 page)

AFB
: Air Force Base.

AGC
: 1. Apollo Guidance Computer. 2. Automatic Gain
Control.

AGS
: Abort Guidance System.

AGT
: Ascent Ground Track.

AOS
: Acquisition Of Signal.

Aphelion
: The point at which a body orbiting the sun
is farthest from it.

Apoapsis
: The point at which two orbiting bodies are
most distant from one another.

Apogee:
The highest point of an orbit around Earth.

Apollo 11
: First lunar landing. Neil Armstrong,
Michael Collins and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. Launched July 16, 1969. Landed on
the moon July 20, 1969.

APS
: Ascent Propulsion System.

APU
: Auxiliary Power Unit.

Ares
: 1. Greek word for Mars. 2. Grey Aerospace
Mars mission name.

ARIA
: Apollo (in this context,
Ares
) Range
Instrument Aircraft. A KC-135 outfitted with the necessary communications
equipment to relay signals and data between the splashdown area and Houston (or
Newport), as the capsule is now out of communication with the DSN.

AS
: Approach Stage (on the Mars lander).

ASS
: Approach Stage Separation.

AU
: Astronomical Unit. Mean distance of Earth from
the sun. Approximately 93 million miles.

Balls
: Sometime slang for zeros. Thus three balls =
000.

BECO
: Booster Engine Cutoff.

Birdfarm
: Navy slang for aircraft carrier.

BLM
: (United States) Bureau of Land Management.

BMAG
: Body-Mounted Attitude Gyro.

BP
: Blood Pressure.

Bubblehead
: Slang term for a submariner.

Canberra
: Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex,
Canberra, Australia.

Canoe Club
: Slang for United States Navy.

Cape
: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape
Canaveral, Florida.

CAPT
: Captain, United States Navy.

CDC
: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDR
: Commander, United States Navy.

Centaur
: Rocket stage.

CEV
: Crew Exploration Vehicle (similar to Apollo era
Command Module).

CH
₄
: Methane (gas).

Chaos
: Martian area of chaotic terrain featuring
canyons, ridges, cracks and plains all jumbled together.

CM
: Command Module.

CMC
: Command Module Computer.

CO
: 1. Carbon monoxide. 2. Commanding Officer.

CO
₂
: Carbon dioxide.

COMM
: Communications.

COMNAVSPECWARGRU 3
: Commander, Naval Special Warfare
Group 3 (SEAL Team 3).

Conjunction
: Mars solar conjunction. Mars is on the
opposite side of the sun from Earth.

CONUS
: Continental United States.

CRO
: Combat Rescue Officer (United States Air Force).

Cryo
: Cryogenic.

CSM
: Command and Service Modules.

Curiosity
: MSL rover (Gale crater, Mars).

DAP
: Digital Autopilot.

dc
: Direct current.

Deimos
: The smaller of Mars’ two moons.

Delta-V
: Change or difference in velocity.

DFC
: Distinguished Flying Cross (U.S. military
decoration).

DHCUS
: Delta Heavy Cryogenic Upper Stage (rocket
stage).

DOI
: Descent Orbit Insertion.

DPS
: Descent Propulsion System.

DSKY
: Display and Keyboard. The interface with the
navigation computer.

DSN
: Deep Space Network (Goldstone, Canberra and
Madrid).

EDS
: Earth Departure Stage (rocket stage).

ELS
: Earth Landing Subsystem.

EMP
: Electromagnetic Pulse.

EMS
: Entry Monitoring System.

EOD
: Explosive Ordinance Disposal.

EODGRUONE
: EOD Group One, Coronado, California.

EVA
: Extravehicular Activity.

FAA
: Federal Aviation Administration, Washington,
D.C.

FCR
: Flight Control Room.

Fossa
: Long narrow depressions or troughs on Mars
(plural fossae).

fps
: Frames Per Second.

FSI
: Flight Safety International, Wichita, Kansas.

G&N
: Guidance and Navigation computer.

GALCIT
: Graduate Aerospace Laboratories of the
California Institute of Technology.

GDC
: Gyro Display Couplers.

Goldstone
: Goldstone Deep Space Communications
Complex, Barstow, California.

Goddard
: Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,
Maryland.

GTC
: Guidance Thrust Command.

H
₂
: Hydrogen (gas).

Hab
: Mars habitat.

HARM
: High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile.

H-dot
: Vertical velocity (the time derivative of
altitude).

HiRISE
: High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment
camera on the MRO.

IMU
: Inertial Measurement Unit. Used to determine the
CSM attitude with respect to an inertial star-fixed system.

IR
: Infrared.

ISS
: 1. International Space Station. 2. Inertial
Subsystem.

Jett
: Jettison.

JPL
: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Johnson
: Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas.

Kennedy
: Kennedy Space Center, Orlando, Florida
(KSC).

Kilo
: Kilogram (about 2.2 pounds).

Klick
: Kilometer.

LCC
: Launch Control Center.

LCDR
: Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy.

LCH
₄
: Liquid methane.

LED
: Light Emitting Diode.

LGC
: LM Guidance Computer.

LH
₂
: Liquid hydrogen.

LM
: Apollo era Lunar excursion Module (aka LEM).

LMST
: Local Mean Standard Time (at Grey Station on
Mars).

LN
₂
: Liquid nitrogen.

LOS
: Loss Of Signal.

LOX
: Liquid oxygen.

LR
: Landing Radar.

LZ
: Landing Zone.

Madrid
: Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex,
Madrid, Spain.

Mag
: Magnification.

Magnum
: Many meanings, but in this case it is the
code word for the launch of a HARM. U.S. fighter pilots make a radio call when
they launch a weapon. This enables their controller to maintain an inventory of
what weapons have been utilized and what remains on the aircraft.

Marshall
: Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone
Arsenal, Alabama.

MAV
: Mars Ascent Vehicle.

MAXQ
: Maximum dynamic pressure.

MCC
: Mission Control Center.

MDS
: Mars Descent Stage.

MECO
: Main Engine Cutoff.

MER
: Mars Exploration Rover (
Spirit
and
Opportunity
).
Launched June 10 and July 7, 2003

Mic
: Microphone.

Mil-spec
: Military specification.

MMRTG
: Multi-Mission Radio-Thermal Generator (a
Boeing-built RTG).

MOC
: Mars Orbiter Camera on the Mars Global Surveyor
orbiter.

MOI
: Mars Orbital Insertion.

MOLA
: Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter. An instrument on
the Mars Global Surveyor.

Mons
: Martian mountain or volcano (plural: montes).

MRO
: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Launched August 12,
2005.

MSD
: Mars Sol Date. Running count of sols since
December 29, 1873 (birth date of astronomer Carl Otto Lampland). To obtain
LMST, multiply the MSD decimal portion by 24 and subtract one (the station is
in Mars’ –1 time zone), then multiply the resulting decimal portion by 60 to
obtain minutes. (Example: MSD 50844.691, LMST is 1535, or 3:35 p.m.).

MSL
: Mars Science Laboratory (
Curiosity
).
Launched November 26, 2011.

MTC
: Coordinated Mars Time. Mean solar time at Mars’
prime meridian (the center of crater Airy-0).

N
₂
: Nitrogen (gas).

NAB
: Naval Amphibious Base.

NASA
: National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
Washington, D.C.

Nav
: Navigation or navigational.

Navy Cross
: Military decoration for valor, second
only to the Medal of Honor.

NOAA
: National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland.

O
₂
: Oxygen (gas).

O&C
: Operations and Checkout Building, Kennedy
Space Center, Florida.

Opportunity
: MER rover (Meridiani Planum,
Mars).

Opposition
: Mars solar opposition. Mars is on the
same side of the sun as Earth and at its nearest point to Earth for any given
orbit.

ORB
: O
rbital Rendezvous Burn.

P52
: An AGC program used to check and realign the IMU
utilizing two star sightings in the CM sextant.

PA
: Public Address.

PAD
: Data sent to the crew from ground, written on
preformatted sheets in pads.

PAM
: Payload Assist Module.

PDI
: Powered Descent Initiation.

Periapsis
: The point at which two orbiting bodies are
nearest one another.

Perigee
: The lowest point of an orbit around Earth.

Perihelion
: The point at which a body orbiting the
sun is nearest to it.

PGNCS
: Primary Guidance, Navigation, and Control
System.

Phobos
: The larger of Mars’ two moons.

Planitia
: Low Martian plains.

Planum
: High Martian plains or plateaus.

PLSS
: Personal Life Support System.

PROCEED
: Button on the DSKY that switches the
navigation computer between standby and normal operation modes.

PSI
: Pounds per Square Inch.

PTC
: Passive Thermal Control. (The ship is in a slow
rotation around its long axis for even heating by the sun.)

Pyro
: Pyrotechnic. Usually explosive bolts.

Q-1 maintenance
: Maintenance performed once each
quarter (every three months).

RADM
: Rear Admiral, United States Navy.

Rags
: (Also ragheads.) Derogatory word for Arabs.

RCRS
: Regenerative Carbon dioxide Removal System. (CO
₂
scrubbers.)

RCS
: Reaction Control System.

REACQ
: Reacquisition. (High Gain Antenna mode.)

Red Shirt
: Aviation Ordnanceman on an aircraft
carrier (also firefighter and EOD).

Regolith
: Martian soil. A mixture of loose sand, dust
and rocks that covers the underlying bedrock.

R&D
: Research and Development.

R-dot
: Rate of change in range (the rate of
approach).

REFSMMAT
: Reference to Stable Member Matrix. A
numerical definition of a fixed orientation in space, usually defined with
respect to the stars. It is used by the primary guidance, navigation, and
control system (PGNCS) as a reference to which the gimbal-mounted platform
should be oriented. P52 option 3 will check the current REFSMMAT.

REPRESS
: Repressurization.

RR
: Rendezvous Radar.

RTG
: Radio-Thermal Generator (plutonium-powered micro
nuclear power electrical generator).

S-IVB
: Saturn V third stage.

S65 AMG
: Top of the line Mercedes sedan.

SA-8
Gecko
: Soviet surface-to-air missile.

Sabatier
: Chemical reactor for producing water,
oxygen, and methane from hydrogen and CO
₂
.

Saturn V
: Rocket utilized for Apollo missions.

SECO
: Second Stage Engine Cutoff.

SEP
: Separation.

SETI
: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Sim
: Simulator.

SM
: Service Module.

SOI
: Sphere of Influence.

Sol
: Martian solar day (24 hours 39 minutes 35.24409
seconds).

Sphere of Influence
: The region around a star,
planet, or moon in which that body’s gravitational pull dominates the orbit of
surrounding smaller objects.

Spirit
: MER rover (Gusev crater, Mars).

SPS
: Service Propulsion System.

SRT
: Stanford Racing Team (builders of the Mars
rovers,
Amos
and
Andy
).

Tau
: 1. 19
^th
letter of the Greek alphabet.
2. Optical depth or thickness. A measure of transparency defined as a negative
natural logarithm of the fraction of available sunlight owing to atmospheric
conditions. The higher the Tau, the less sunlight there is reaching the
planet’s surface. On Mars a Tau of 4.7 means that 99% of normal sunlight is
being blocked by dust in the atmosphere.

THEMIS
: Thermal Emission Imaging System on the Mars
Odyssey orbiter.

TEI
: Trans-Earth Injection. Departing Mars orbit for
Earth.

TGO
: Time to Go (from current time to desired
condition).