ABSTRACT
In January 2004, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) landed two vehicles, Spirit and Opportunity, on the surface of the planet Mars. These Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) sent back massive quantities of data and photographs over the following years. Subsequent surface missions have included the Phoenix lander which explored the polar region geology and climate in 2008, and the Mars Science Laboratory rover (Curiosity), launched at the end of 2011. While providing stunning data and views of our neighboring planet, these missions all employed vehicles supporting large electronic bays with significant power requirements and hence substantial mass and volume. The electronic bays themselves are often referred to as “warm electronic boxes” since they are configured to keep both batteries and electronic components above the range of temperatures specified for operation of industrial/military electronics.
