May 3, 2024

NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover: A Day in the Life of a T-DOC

During plan development, which typically lasts about two hours, these modifications are made to the strategy. The next essential conference is the Declare Plan Meeting, which takes place about two hours into strategy development. After the Declare Plan conference, the strategy is almost finalized, but its still important to look at resources for the rover such as power to make sure that there is enough left over at the end of the day. The plan is locked at this point, and we go over the finalized plan one more time. After reconciliation, there is still work for the rest of the group as they uplink the strategy to the rover, but the plan itself is completed!

The plan is locked at this point, and we go over the finalized plan one more time. After reconciliation, there is still work for the rest of the team as they uplink the strategy to the rover, but the strategy itself is ended up!
Composed by Lydia Kivrak, Student Collaborator at University of Florida

This illustration illustrates NASAs Perseverance rover operating on the surface of Mars. Credit: NASA
It takes a team to prepare Perseverances day-to-day activities, consisting of individuals in various functions. Among these functions is called the tactical documentarian, or T-DOC. The tactical documentarian takes notes of the decisions made throughout the day as the rovers strategy modifications, and shares those notes with the team so that the next days planning group understands what took place, and why.
The planning sol (Mars day) starts with a Kickoff Meeting, where we discuss what the previous sols strategy was and what major decisions we have to make today. We already understand a lot of what will be in todays strategy due to the fact that of week-to-week planning (called project planning) of the rover. Throughout strategy development, which generally lasts about 2 hours, these modifications are made to the strategy.
Mars Perseverance Sol 354– Left Mastcam-Z Camera: NASAs Mars Perseverance rover obtained this image using its Left Mastcam-Z camera. Mastcam-Z is a set of cams located high on the rovers mast.
The next important meeting is the Declare Plan Meeting, which takes place about two hours into strategy development. After the Declare Plan conference, the plan is nearly completed, but its still crucial to look at resources for the rover such as power to make sure that there is enough left over at the end of the day.