Mars Phoenix Lander Touches Down on Mars

[Boggy1 45]

After nine months of travelling, and almost $325 million spent, the Mars Phoenix Lander hit ground on Mars at 23:38UTC, yesterday.

The Phoenix is only the sixth Lander to successfully land on Mars, and the only one for over 30 years to use rockets in its descent. The average success rate for a Mars landing is only 55%, making this landing a real step in the forward in the exploration of Mars.

Phoenix has landed at the Martian North Pole regions, and is looking for signs of water, and even possible signs of past life. Unfortunately, its mission profile is only expected to last 92 days; as it is very doubtful the Lander will survive through the Martian winter.

I stayed up to watch the live Phoenix descent at the JPL control centre in Pasadena. The emotion in the room was intense, with each success signal received provoking a collective sigh of relief and joyus applause from the crew. The engineers called it "the most terrifying seven minutes" of their life.

You can watch the touchdown in the control centre http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR91HkTZ9VY.

Already, the Lander has broadcast some images of the Martian landscape. A really fantastic achiement, I was reduced to tears after the landing confirmation signal came back through.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Wonderfull

Astronomy Picture of The Day has a nice one.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

[Micah 16]

Hopefully it will strike oil!

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

Yay! Now we can solve our red dust shortage! No more wars over it, looks like there's plenty to go around.

It's really cool, though. I just want a face to suddenly peek into the camera.

** "Meerkats? What the...!?" **

[Fresh Prince of Wmbg 44]

And to think that someday that could  will be prime real estate........................

                                                 

[Easy Bakes 253]

Looks like they found ice on mars.

Go Science ! !

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080621.html

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

Heard about this ice discovery yesterday, very exciting!

Now if only we could find those little green men. . .

[saltandsauce 0]

meh

[patriots_1228 51]

One small step for man, One giant leap for Space Robots.

[panthersimcity4 162]

Ooooh. Let's just wait for "Virgle" to go into play and we'll be all set

[Easy Bakes 253]

Soil samples being baked as we speak.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080621.html

[Easy Bakes 253]

New News  life essential minerals found. And Water vapor too.

Every one  get your terraforming kits out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080626/sc_space/mineralsneededforlifefoundonmars

[MrCinatit 30]

I've long thought that life elsewhere is a lot more abundant than we think (though intelligent life might be more difficult to find - at least intelligent life according to our standards). I firmly believe that we will find unarguable proof that there was life on Mars within my lifetime.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Mars orbit is within what is concidered the habatibility zone of this solar system.

Or at least for life similar to earths anyway

[BurroDiablo 222]

Asparagus, which thrives in alkaline soil, would like the Martian dirt, which Phoenix measured to have a very alkaline pH of between eight to nine. Strawberries, meanwhile, like acidic soil, he said.quote>

So... the new Mars training is as follows -

1. Learn to love Asparagus

2. Go to Mars

Sounds tough

[Micah 16]

1. Learn to love Asparagus

2. Go to Marsquote>

I doubt the Marsian environmentalists will like us growing asparagus on their planet.

[Boggy1 45]

Anyway, some updates.

In case no one knew, the Mars Phoenix has had a very popular Twitter account for the past few months. It's great to see almost daily updates on whats going on, and it's rather cute to see the lander personified like that; gives it a nice personality.

The sad fact is that Phoenix will die soon. The Martian winter is rapidly approaching, and temperatures have already plummeted to -90C (-130F), and are expected to reach down to -120C (-184F) by November. This will destroy most of the landers circuit boards; plus, as the sun sinks lower, the amount of energy reaching the solar panels will decrease and decrease, until it's no longer able to function.

It'll probably be buried by at least a metre of CO2 ice, which will likely crush the solar panels.

NASA has put a piece of software into the lander however, its Lazarus Mode, which, if the lander really does survive the Winter and has enough power to start up, it will send a signal up to the orbiter, which will relay it back to Earth. Yet, scientists arn't hopeful that this will happen, and it's doubtful that Phoenix will rise up from the ice ever again.

There are a few weeks of life left for the lander. There is one cell in its Wet Chemistry Lab, and four micro-Ovens that are still left unused, though with dwindling energy quota, its doubtful that they will be used for any further experiments. The Phoenix team always knew that Winter would be the end for the lander. It has surpassed expectations however; with it's life extended by two months from the original cut off date.

In the meantime, the two Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are still running, four years after their cut off date. It is possible they will continue living through into 2010. Opportunity has now just begun a new journey to a crater seven miles away from its current position; a journey that could take upwards to two years. Almost daily updates are available through their Twitter account.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Amazing  those rovers are still trucking along after 4 years. Alot of cars dont last that long.

[Barbarossa 51]

.

  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[hym 358]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes Amazing  those rovers are still trucking along after 4 years. Alot of cars dont last that long.

quote>

Unlike cars, which are designed to look pretty (or tough or sexy or whatever), rovers are designed to function a little bit like sentient lifeforms.  One of NASA's mandates is that, if communication is ever lost with a rover, it can continue to carry out its mission for at least a couple of weeks.  Interestingly, they also contain enough logic in them that, given the right scenarios, they will actually modify their low-level mission parameters if it will maximize their efficacy in carrying out their overall mission.

Cars aren't designed to do that.

[Boggy1 45]

hym: Oh but wouldn't it be awesome if they could!

Car: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. Taking this route will add an extra fifteen minutes onto our journey. I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: hym

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes Amazing  those rovers are still trucking along after 4 years. Alot of cars dont last that long.

quote>

Unlike cars, which are designed to look pretty (or tough or sexy or whatever), rovers are designed to function a little bit like sentient lifeforms.  One of NASA's mandates is that, if communication is ever lost with a rover, it can continue to carry out its mission for at least a couple of weeks.  Interestingly, they also contain enough logic in them that, given the right scenarios, they will actually modify their low-level mission parameters if it will maximize their efficacy in carrying out their overall mission.

Cars aren't designed to do that. quote>

 

I realy meant that they are much more complicated then cars. And crashlanded 1billion miles away. Hence one would think more prone to break downs. 

Even so they exceded thier expected life spans by leaps and bounds.

[Boggy1 45]

R.I.P Phoneix

Succumbing to a swirling dust storm and the cold of an encroaching Martian winter, the Phoenix Mars lander fell quiet for a day, before coming back to life Thursday evening, albeit weakly.

The craft revived itself after shutting down for a day, but its demise is expected to be less than a month away.

The lander's batteries appeared to have drained, mission managers said, with all systems, including its heaters, shut down. The mission managers had instructed the spacecraft to wake up and send word of its condition at 12:30 a.m. Thursday via the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was passing overhead. It did not.

But the spacecraft is programmed with a so-called Lazarus mode that enables it to resuscitate itself and recharge its batteries during the day.

Once restarted, the lander conserved its energy for 17 hours, then tried to communicate for two hours with any orbiter passing overhead, repeating the cycle until it received new instructions.

The lander successfully communicated with the Mars Odyssey orbiter Thursday evening.

A NASA statement said: "The communication reinforced a diagnosis that the spacecraft is in a precautionary mode triggered by low energy. Mission engineers are assessing the lander's condition and steps necessary for returning to science operations."

The Phoenix landed in May, during spring in the Martian northern polar region, to study a vast expanse of ice just below the surface. It has found signs that the ice may have melted in the past - the presence of carbonates, which form in the presence of liquid water - but its measurements also show current conditions to be very dry.

The lander's last experiment, using a small oven to cook a sample of soil, was completed over the weekend. Data from the experiment was sent back before the shutdown and could answer whether the Martian soil contains organic compounds.

The Phoenix's mission was scheduled to last three months but was extended to allow scientists to squeeze every bit of data from the spacecraft.

Now, with the dwindling sunlight of the Martian winter, the lander's solar panels will produce less energy.

A dust storm on Monday further reduced the amount of power the panels could produce. Coupled with the energy drain from the last experiment and surface temperatures as low as minus-141 degrees Fahrenheit at night, the spacecraft put itself into its safe mode on Tuesday, shutting down nonessential activities.

The lander also shut down one of its two batteries and switched to backup electronicssystems, and some energy-saving commands sent to the primary electronics were not performed.

Even though the lander revived, its demise is probably less than a month away. Peter H. Smith of the University of Arizona, the mission's principal investigator, said it would be nice to watch winter develop through the lander's instruments. "But that's gravy," Mr. Smith said. "We got what we came for."quote>

[Easy Bakes 253]

Who knows mabey it will wake up inthe summer.

[TV-VCR 15]

Contact has officially been lost with Phoenix.

If you are reading this, then my mission is probably over.

This final entry is one that I asked be posted after my mission team announces they've lost contact with me. Today is that day and I must say good-bye, but I do it in triumph and not in grief.

As I've said before, there's no other place I'd rather be than here. My mission lasted five months instead of three, and I'm content knowing that I worked hard and accomplished great things during that time. My work here is done, but I leave behind a legacy of images and data.

In that sense, you haven't heard the end of me. Scientists will be releasing findings based on my data for months, possibly years, to come and today's children will read of my discoveries in their textbooks. Engineers will use my experience during landing and surface operations to aid in designing future robotic missions.

But for now, it's time for me to hunker down and brave what will be a long and cold autumn and winter. Temperatures should reach -199F (-128C) and a polar cap of carbon dioxide ice will envelop me in an icy tomb.

Seasons on Mars last about twice as long as seasons on Earth, so if you're wondering when the next Martian spring in the northern hemisphere begins, it's one Earth-year away - October 27, 2009. The next Martian summer solstice, when maximum sunlight would hit my solar arrays, falls on May 13, 2010.

That's a long time away. And it's one of the reasons there isn't much hope that I'll ever contact home again.

For my mission teams on Earth, I bid a special farewell and thank you. For the thousands of you who joined me on this journey with your correspondence, I will miss you dearly. I hope you'll look to my kindred robotic explorers as they seek to further humankind's quest to learn and understand our place in the universe. The rovers, Spirit and Opportunity (@MarsRovers), are still operating in their sun belt locations closer to the Martian equator; Cassini (@CassiniSaturn) is sailing around Saturn and its rings; and the Mars Science Laboratory (@MarsScienceLab) - the biggest rover ever built for launch to another planet - is being carefully pieced together for launch next year.

My mission team has promised to update my Twitter feed as more of my science discoveries are announced. If I'm lucky, perhaps one of the orbiters will snap a photo of me when spring comes around.

So long Earth. I'll be here to greet the next explorers to arrive, be they robot or human.

quote>

[Boggy1 45]

Oh man, I'm actually quite upset. RIP Phoenix. You served us well.

Veni, Vidi, Fodi

[Easy Bakes 253]

It served its purpose well. i dont think it exceeded  expectations like the rovers did but

Still made it offical that life on mars is possible.

[Easy Bakes 253]

For those Interested

Nasa contest to name next Mars Rover.

http://marsrovername.jpl.nasa.gov/

 You would get to vist JPL

[Red1530 1]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes It served its purpose well. i dont think it exceeded  expectations like the rovers did but

Still made it offical that life on mars is possible.quote>

Actually the primary phase of the mission was to last ninety Martian days but lasted 125 Martian days.  I am glad they found water on Mars.