posted
SPACECRAFT ON TRACK TO MAKE HISTORIC MARS LANDING
By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer Sun May 25, 12:19 PM ET
quote:PASADENA, Calif. - A three-legged NASA spacecraft was closing in on Mars Sunday for what scientists hope will be the first-ever touchdown near Mars' north pole to study whether the permafrost could have supported primitive life.
The time it takes the Phoenix Mars Lander to streak through the atmosphere and set down on the dusty surface has been dubbed "the seven minutes of terror" for good reason. More than half of the world's attempts to land on Mars have ended in failures.
"I'm a little nervous on the inside. I'm getting butterflies," Peter Smith, principal investigator from the University of Arizona, Tucson, said on the eve of the landing. "We bet the whole farm on this safe landing and we can't do our science without this safe landing."
Phoenix is pre-programmed to plummet through the Red Planet's atmosphere, and will rely on the intricately choreographed use of its heat shield, parachute and rockets to slow its descent from over 12,000 mph to a 5 mph touchdown.
LIVE COVERAGE KICKS OFF TONIGHT AT 6:30 EDT, 3:30 PDT.
Enjoy,
NR.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
If they find any kind of life over there it will change the world Ace of Spades.
What I am particularly excited (assuming they find no evidence of life), about is the robotic digging arm. It will dig a trench by scooping up a little bit of Martian soil day by day and analyze it.
This will provide us a layer by layer history of the Martian climate, which we can then compare to the Earth's climate and see if there is any correlation.
This information should be particularly useful in understanding climate change here on Earth. If Mars is a dead Earth, then it is critical that we understand how it got to it's current state.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Cruise Stage Separation is successful. Estimated 2 mins 15 seconds until it starts encountering the Martian atmosphere.
The webhost was saying earlier that it takes 10 minutes for the signal to reach Earth from Mars, but only 7 minutes to land, so by the time we recieve the signal that it is hitting the atmosphere, it has already landed or crashed!
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
The first images to be taken after landing will probably be of the solar arrays, to check their deployment status, and we probably won't get to see those until around 10PM EDT at the earliest.
Quarter of a degree tilt. Looks like she landed exactly as planned.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Patience Ace of spades, the solar arrays should be deploying right about now. We have to get some power in order to operate this thing. The spacecraft will then go through a series of checks to make sure all systems are operational, after which it will report it's status back to Earth, in about 20 minutes or so...
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
First images recieved, I tried to printscreen but it doesn't work with Media Player. Looks like the solar arrays are fully deployed. I guess we will have to wait for images to be posted on the web to see them.
They showed one image of the landscape, and it was completely flat with either ripples or hexagon shaped features surrounded by small pebbles, similar to the pattern in a dry mud puddle.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
That's just like the image of the virgin mary on a grilled cheese sandwhich....you see what you want to see!!! Posts: 2321 | Registered: Aug 2006
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
There is a Phoneix Mars Lander press briefing coming up on NASA-TV at 2PM EDT.
For those of you interested in this sort of thing, (obviously not many based on the posts here), if you have the time you should watch. The press conferences on NASA-TV are much more informing and in-depth than your average 5 minute blurb on CNN or FOX news.
IMO if more people understood what we can learn about our own home, the Earth, by learning about Mars, they might not be so quick to dismiss these Mars missions as a waste of taxpayers money or lunatic flights of fancy looking for Klingons on Uranus.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Good press conference. What impressed me was the picture they took using the MRO HiRISE orbiter of the lander during decent still attached to the parachute! This is the first time that a spacecraft has imaged the final descent of another spacecraft onto a planetary body.
One of the questions asked in the Q&A session was regarding a large white feature seen in some of the first few images that beamed down. The response was that the images are compressed and better images will be available in a day or two so they should have a better handle on what it might be. IMO, it is either the parachute or the back shell.
The rest of the conference was basically a summary of what kinds of things will go on in the next few days before they actually start digging. They want to calibrate the robotics on the science instruments, and they also want to get a 360 view of the landing area, particularly the area they will be able to dig in with the robotic arm.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
The Mars Polar Lander? I doubt it, they never were able to obtain photographs of the crashed spacecraft using MRO's HiRISE camera but Phoenix landed so far away from where MPL was supposed to land that the odds of it being the other lander are slim to none.
As I understood it, the lander crashed because the computer software for the thrusters was designed in the EU and was using meters rather than feet when it tried to judge where to cut off the thrusters and land... it thought it was 3 feet off the ground when it was really 3 meters.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- No longer eligible for government service due to lack of tax issues. Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
More images today from MRO's HiRISE imager. Amazing!
One thing I noticed from the second image is that the area of disturbance around the lander is much larger than the reach of the robotic arm. This, IMO means that the first few scoops of soil they test should be consider contaminated or altered because of the landing thrusters.
Scientists and engineers are celebrating Phoenix's "soft landing" using thrusters, but IMO, perhaps a "airbag landing" similar to those used for the MER Rovers, would have been more appropriate for this mission. However, I am by no means a rocket scientist so I am sure they had their reasons. Phoenix wasn't originally designed to land in the polar region so this could have a lot to do with it.
I also noticed from the MRO HiRISE images that the parachute and back shell set down near the lander, and after viewing the image below from Phoenix, I am convinced the "white object" mentioned in the earlier press conference is indeed the back shell.
This has probably already been confirmed, I am not sure, I have been unable to watch any recent press conferences and couldn't find any information on the issue.
In today's news, scientists at NASA attempted to deploy the robotic arm but were delayed by a glitch in the radio relay between Phoenix and MRO. This issue has since been resolved by switching to a relay with NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter, and Phoenix program manager, Ed Sedivy, at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. described it as a "one day hickup and "no big deal".
Per an earlier press conference I watched, Phoenix cannot directly communicate with Earth because it does not have a high gain antenna on board. This was a decision NASA scientists made early on in the re-design phase order to save weight, conserve power, and add larger science packages. At that time, NASA scientists had already been using MRO as a relay for the MER-A and MER-B Rovers. Both rovers are capable of direct Earth communication, but due to dust on the solar panels engineers were conserving power by using the rover's low gain antennas to relay information back and forth using MRO.
Pictures received yesterday show that even though the "bio-barrier" which surrounded the digging arm had not fully retracted, it has retracted a little bit further today, and should not hinder the arm's deployment. Scientists will attempt to move the arm from the "stowed" position tomorrow.
Enjoy, NR.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Scientists and engineers are celebrating Phoenix's "soft landing" using thrusters, but IMO, perhaps a "airbag landing" similar to those used for the MER Rovers, would have been more appropriate for this mission. However, I am by no means a rocket scientist so I am sure they had their reasons. Phoenix wasn't originally designed to land in the polar region so this could have a lot to do with it.
The reasons for not using airbags were two-fold according to several articles I have read. Phoenix was too heavy, nearly 1300lbs, for airbags. Second, they want to refine thruster landing ability for future manned missions per articles.
-------------------- It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious. Posts: 3311 | From: St. Louis | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
Lots of new developments over the last few days, including one that relates to my earlier comment about the first few scoops of soil being contaminated or altered because of the landing thrusters.
The latest pictures from Phoenix show what scientist think might be ice on the surface underneath the lander, exposed by Phoenix's landing thrusters.
At this point, it is unclear whether it is ice or simply a large rock that is lighter in color. Scientists intend to take color images and monitor it's brightness over the next few days. If it is ice, it will begin to collect frost.
For more information, see this article via the JPL-NASA website.
In other news, after a delay because of a radio glitch, the robotic digging arm has finally been moved from it's stowed position. Scientists will now test the joints in the arm before they attempt to use the arm to dig.
In addition, a 360 degree view of the landing site has been put together and scientists are already making plans on where to dig.
Just when nerves calmed at NASA after Thursday's MRO radio glitch was fixed, testing last night of Phoenix's Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer revealed a possible short circuit. Scientists claim they know what is causing the problem and are working on several possible workarounds.
The rest of the spacecraft has received a "clean bill of health" and scientists are excited about moving forward towards the first sample of Martian soil.
For more information see this article via Yahoo news.
Enjoy, NR.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
The first pictures of the terrain under the rover have been taken over the last two days using the camera on the digging arm.
These images show what scientists believe is an ice layer that has been exposed by Phoenix's landing thrusters. While confirmation could take a few weeks, scientists believe color pictures taken yesterday could improve their confidence level. The color images are not yet available as far as I can tell.
Scientists are encouraged by the latest images because there are some theories that suggest the ice layer on Mars in this region could be 30-60cm deep, which would mean a lot of digging for the robotic arm.
Also, scientists are still struggling with the short circuit in the TEGA instrument, but are still confident they can come up with a work around to bring the mission critical instrument back into operation.
The short circuit appears to be in the mass spectrometer portion of the instrument, which is the portion that analyzes the gases coming from the heated Martian soil and determines it's composition.
For more information see this article via Yahoo news.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Space Agency's weather station continues to operate flawlessly. The lidar instrument was activated for 15 minutes on Saturday and returned data on dust in the Martian atmosphere. This is the first time lidar technology has been used on the surface of another planet.
Finally, I would like to congratulate Allstock's very own "The Bigfoot" for being the first inhabitant of Earth to leave a footprint on the surface of another planet.
Scientists have touched the surface of Mars for the first time with the bucket on the digging arm and have left an imprint dubbed "Yeti". This is the first step in a series of actions expected to bring soil and ice to the lander's experiments.
For more information see this article via the Phoenix Mars Mission official website.
Enjoy, NR.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
I wouldn't suggest a visit. Can't get good chinese take out anywhere!
And my legend continues to grow.
-------------------- No longer eligible for government service due to lack of tax issues. Posts: 5178 | From: Up North | Registered: Dec 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Mars dirt fails to reach lander's testing oven Story Highlights Photos show dirt around oven door, but none made it into chamber
"We think everything is working correctly," says scientist in charge of oven
If oven is unusable, lander has seven more
Scientists will spend next several days trying to figure out the problem
PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- The first sample of Martian dirt dumped onto the opening of the Phoenix lander's tiny testing oven failed to reach the instrument, and scientists said Saturday that they will devote a few days to trying to determine the cause.
Photos released by the University of Arizona team overseeing the mission showed a scoopful of dirt sitting on and around the open oven door after being dumped by the craft's 8-foot robot arm. But none of it made it past a screen and into the tiny chamber, one of eight on the craft designed to heat soil and test gasses for signs of water or organic compounds that could be building blocks for life.
Nothing seems to be wrong with the dirt delivery by the lander's robot arm, said William Boynton of the University of Arizona in Tucson, who is overseeing the oven experiments. The dirt landed properly, and instruments show that a vibrator on the screen designed to help shake soil into the chamber was working.
However, an electronic eye positioned to detect dirt falling into the chamber didn't report any particles.
"We think everything is working correctly, although we don't really know for sure," Boynton said Saturday. "We're a little bit concerned about this, but we have some other things to check out."
The teams overseeing the experiments plan to spend several days going over possible reasons for the apparent failure, Boynton said.
It could be that the dirt is too dense or compacted to make it past the screen, which is there to allow only small particles into the oven. Or, it could be that incorrect readings from the vibrator made it look like it was working when it was not.
Even if this oven turns out to be unusable, the seven other ovens would be available for the mission's primary experiments.
In the meantime, scientists will turn their attention to using the arm's backhoe-like arm to take close-up photos of the surface and do additional digging.
Phoenix landed in Mars' northern plains May 25 for a three-month mission. It is not a rover like some Mars missions, and its instruments cannot directly detect past or present life.
The $420 million mission is being overseen by the University of Arizona, with support from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
All AboutMars Exploration • Unmanned Space Exploration
-------------------- It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious. Posts: 3311 | From: St. Louis | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Please excuse the short update, but I recently injured my finger and so it is difficult for me to type, but much has happened since my last update to this post.
Thanks for your post Pagan. According to recent articles I have read, scientists at NASA "vibrated" the screen on the oven and enough soil to test has finally fallen through and filled the oven. It is being analyzed as we speak.
Tex, it does look a lot like ice but it is also possible that this is a layer of salt similar to those "dug" up by the wheels on the MER A and B rovers.
Instruments on Phoenix have also examined the first scoops of soil with a microscope.
quote:The sample included some larger, black, glassy particles as well as smaller reddish ones. "We may be looking at a history of the soil," said Pike. "It appears that original particles of volcanic glass have weathered down to smaller particles with higher concentration of iron."
Lots more going on, and some great close up imagery of some large boulders and the back shell on the horizon, but I'll save it for my next update.
NR.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Glass, just wondering, what effects, if any, would high iron content have on glass?
Also, off-topic to this thread, I was flipping through a Popular Science the other day and ran across a little blurb about Prince Rupert's drops. Pretty neat, have you ever made one?
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example. Posts: 2430 | From: CA | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Were Up]](graemlins/wereup.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Wall Bang]](graemlins/wallbang.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
And my legend continues to grow.
