Phoenix Mars Landing Thread

[Andy44]

BTW, there is a show in Discovery Channel about Pheonix right this minute. You may catch the re-run later tonight if they re-air it.

 

[Matte]

oh, i understand. very interesting!!! thanks for answer!

 

[apollo13]

Phoeniz is scheduled to last 90 days, but if it last's as much as Spirit, and Oppurtunity, will they use if for other things, than they are using it now? Since, it also landed in the Polar Region isn't it more colder that Spirit..etc?

 

[Master of Blades]

Just read that, apparently, a bunch of UFO-twats claims that a white spot near the horizon one of the phoenix photos, proves that there is (or has been) an advanced alien race present on Mars, having established some form of civilization, and that NASA is withholding the truth...

*sigh*

 

[pete.dakota]

Just read that, apparently, a bunch of UFO-twats claims that a white spot near the horizon one of the phoenix photos, proves that there is (or has been) an advanced alien race present on Mars, having established some form of civilization, and that NASA is withholding the truth...

*sigh*

You could show those people a picture of a black speck of dust on a white sand beach and they would think it was aliens. It's best just to see the funny side.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

That's the biggest that I've been able to find (original context:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/images/press/PSP_008579_9020_descent.html). I took a brief look around to see if I could find the raw HiRISE image, but didn't have any luck.

EDIT: The HiRISE Team Blog says that the picture is scaled down by a factor of ten in order to cut down on noise. There a few people requesting a larger resolution, though, so maybe they'll release one. You should also read the entry for the original shot, it gives a remarkable impression of just how hard this shot was to pull off.

HiRISE has unannotated full res TIFFS here:

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/phoenix-descent.php

Just unbelievable. Wow.

 

[Notebook]

The Phoenix spacecraft on Mars is finally getting to grips with the clumpy soil at its landing location.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7452072.stm

N.

 

[Matte]

i've learnt recently the use of the TEGA, and the fact that each oven can be used for just 1 time, so in the end, 8 samples analysis.
but the microscope? how can they clean the "glass" from the dust? or they have a sort of rotating set of glasses?
thnks
Matte

 

[SlyCoopersButt]

Despite the sad ending it will bring, It's going to be an amazing sight to see during the end of the mission when ice starts forming at the phoenix landing site. That'll be another first of it's own to photograph that! If only they gave the spacecraft the same power source as the viking lander. I suppose $ was the reason.

 

[Genius]

Nasa Phoenix Lander

I visited the Phoenix Lander web site. I come to the conclusion that they really do not know what the icy substance on Mars is. Is it water ice or something else? It looks like the thermal oven system does not work like they hope it would. The lander struggle to get some samples into the oven.

 

[Urwumpe]

I visited the Phoenix Lander web site. I come to the conclusion that they really do not know what the icy substance on Mars is. Is it water ice or something else? It looks like the thermal oven system does not work like they hope it would. The lander struggle to get some samples into the oven.

They don't know that it is water ice - that is right. But they do know that it sublimed at exactly the rate, water ice should sublime. That means, unless it is some unknown substance (which has to be excluded), it will with certainty be water ice.

And the problems with the oven are exaggerated - compared to their Viking counterparts, they work fine.

They just have the problem that their soil probes behave like ice - believe me, I know what I am talking about, such a problem was part of my last research paper. You don't know how hard it can be to deliver a shovel of crushed ice into a 0.4l glass. Just tiny changes in the parameters of the ice and shovel make the difference between:

1. A clean drop of exactly 150g ice, without even a tiny bit of the ice going outside the glass or being stuck to the shovel after vibrating a bit.
2. The shovel having 200g ice stuck on all sides of it, with problems to get rid of the excessive 50g on it, except by finding something to wipe it away.
3. A messed up drop of exactly 150g ice everywhere but not into the glass, even though the robot even used sensible torque sensors to detect the rim of the glass.

I should have mailed NASA this chapter of my paper before they began testing the robot arm... but it was not ready at that time. :lol:

 

[Genius]

BTW, there is a show in Discovery Channel about Pheonix right this minute. You may catch the re-run later tonight if they re-air it.

I also can watch the Dicovery Channel. But there is no listing of the Phoenix mission today. Is that because I live in South Africa? Do they have different listings for different countries? I recieve my transmission from the Pas 10 sattelite. That means they stream to the UK too.

 

[TSPenguin]

I also can watch the Dicovery Channel. But there is no listing of the Phoenix mission today. Is that because I live in South Africa? Do they have different listings for different countries? I recieve my transmission from the Pas 10 sattelite. That means they stream to the UK too.

He posted that information 1 month and 15 days ago...

 

[Genius]

He posted that information 1 month and 15 days ago...

Oops...sorry , I did not chech that.....but my question remains...why did they not air it to us. I WOULD notice that...believe me:lol:

 

[Lunar_Lander]

I'm quite worried about the news trickling in now: Everything on Phoenix seems to malfunction!

First they couldn't get samples through the inlet to the analyzers. Then the memory crashed. And now there are new problems with a sample sticking in the shovel.

Is Phoenix a mission without luck, or aren't the problems that big?

 

[joeybigO]

Suspected upgrade: Add additional bias towards shuttle and away from ISS partners.

as soon as we start using Soyuz to get to the ISS, then there will be no bias
Until then it makes an excellent way to get there, with payload too.

 

[SiberianTiger]

R.I.P. Phoenix? Or not yet?

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Phoenix_Goes_Quiet_999.html

NASA'S Phoenix Mars Lander, with its solar-electric power shrinking due to shorter daylight hours and a dust storm, did not respond to an orbiter's attempt to communicate with it Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

 

[RisingFury]

Hopefully it survives the winter...

 

[Andy44]

Yeah, so what's the deal, is it expected to power up again when the summer season returns, or will it freeze itself to death in the meantime?

 

[DaveS]

Yeah, so what's the deal, is it expected to power up again when the summer season returns, or will it freeze itself to death in the meantime?

Won't survive the winter. There will be no heaters to to keep the spacecraft electronics warm so it will just freeze up with no hope of recovery.