Good idea, I'll add that. Just to make sure I'm not crazy, MER started on "Sol 1", but Phoenix was "Sol 0"?

OK, new standalone version here: http://www.public.asu.edu/~sbporter/MarsSundial2.1.html

And I tried to update the Google version, but it didn't appear to work; I'll give a little while to see if the database will cycle through... At any rate, here's the direct link to the new version:

http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/fil...MarsSundial.xml

Simon

I got bored the other day and made this, and thought I might share it. It's a Mars Sundial, displaying MTC, Ls, Local Solar Mean Time (LSMT), and solar elevation for each of the active surface missions. It's based on the Mars 24 algorithm given here.

To install onto iGoogle, click on "add stuff", and then "add feed or gadget" down in the left-hand corner, and copy the following URL in:

http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/fil...MarsSundial.xml

There's also a standalone version here: http://www.public.asu.edu/~sbporter/MarsSundial.html

Enjoy!

Simon

The real problem with Mars (and Moon) dust is that it is so very electrically charged. If you walked over to one of the rovers, and tried to brush the dust off, it would probably stick to your spacesuit glove. For example, look how dirty the Apollo astronauts got (e.g. Cernan below); all that dust was electrostatic cling. So, a simple solution would be to run a ground strip from the structure of the panels to the ground (which they may already do, I don't know). A more proactive solution would be to put a negative charge on the panels (or on a transparent, conductive coating on top). This, though, would probably strain both the power and fiscal budgets...

Simon

Just in case you were wondering, How to Read the Phoenix Met Boom...

Simon

Look at how rounded those embedded cobble-sized rocks are (in the footpad images); presumably glacial drop stones?

Simon

The press release shows MO lined up too, but I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere that THEMIS will be imaging entry (probably beyond resolution), so presumably it's just there as a relay?

Simon

Really? It may be "summer", but they are landing on permafrost. When asked Chris McKay earlier this year, he said maybe the first few centimeters...

WRT mobility, I have to disagree, Doug. The area the arm can reach is probably going to be pretty homogeneous, and a Surveyor-style hop may be enough to get to a different-looking place. Five TEGA runs of the same sample don't produce much more science than a single run.

Also, remember that Mars is a low-gravity environment (0.38g), so the fuel requirements are not as egregious as a terrestrial rocket...

Simon

And the last state of the Union to not keep Daylight savings just happens to be Arizona, home of the Phoenix control center... It does, though, make it convenient, as Tucson will be on the same time as JPL for the entire mission...

Simon

Well, according to a poster at the Tuesday session, they've crammed the NetLander science package into the lander for ExoMars... I still wonder about their mass margins...

Simon

Nice Poster, Ted and Phil; it made up a bit for the relative dearth of outer planets coverage...

Simon

Well, we'll see how the Falcon 9 price changes between now and when it actually flies. Even still, it'll still probably end up cheaper than an EELV, though will less support than ULA would offer. In my mind, that makes it suitable for Discovery-class missions, though not necessarily ones with a larger budget.

Delta II was $50 million when Pathfinder launched, but it has gone up a lot since then...

Simon

Well then drop the second vehicle and fly the one with a faster trajectory. Point is, I still think it's possible to build a very capable New Frontiers-class Neptune Orbiter...

Simon

This has got me thinking about if you could pull off a Uranus/Neptune Orbiter for less than $850 million...

Aerocapture is obviously the way to go, and the Titan Explorer orbiter seems a good place to start. It masses ~1800 kg wet, while the cruise stage ~1500 kg, mainly fuel. If we drop the balloon and lander, we cut out roughly 2/3 the mass of the cruise stage, giving a payload mass of ~2300 kg. That's about half the mass of TE. The option then is either to use a low-end EELV (Atlas 401, Delta IV sans SRBs, or Falcon 9) for a single launch (more likely), or launch two spacecraft (one Neptune, one Uranus) on an Atlas 551 (much more cost effective, but less likely).

The point is, I don't think it's a given that a ice giant orbiter has to a ridiculously expensive Battlestar Galactica style mission like Cassini. It's just like Mars Sample Return; if you're willing to use new technology (aerocapture and ASTG in this case) and make compromises, you can turn a perpetually paper mission into reality...

Simon

I love how they just slap 3 kg on the balloon for "Phoenix-based" MET package. The only thing that causes the Phoenix package to weigh that much is the Lidar, which could be really awesome if mounted on a scan platform (the only other MET insts worth moving over are a thin-wire thermocouple and a barometer). I do wonder about the MSL-derived TDL, though, considering all of its trials and tribulations...

Also, I wonder how much the seismometer will actually pick up; it sounds like it's decoupled from the Lander (a.k.a. Luna-Titan), but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's coupled to the ground (especially if it's loose regolith)...

Simon

Oh, forget a 2m dish, just find a suitable crater and build a mini-Arecibo; if you've got a crew around to bang pegs into the ground, the landed mass could be pretty small (mesh and stiffeners for the reflector, three cable-stayed towers, and a box for the receiver). The base will probably have pressurized rovers with a range of around 900 km, so the radio observatory doesn't have to be at the south pole to be human-supported...

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/07...a_moonbase.html

Simon

I think probably the key advantage of an observatory close to a Lunar base is the same as for Hubble in LEO, proximity to repair. NASA's planning to build its base at the south pole, in one of the areas of constant sunlight (so power and thermal cycles aren't a concern). This might not be the absolute best for radio (though you can selectively put a mountain between the dish and Earth), the real advantage is bottom of the permanently shadowed craters, which at a constant 40 K. You land build a great big cryogenic IR telescope down there , and then just run power/data lines up to the moonbase...

Probably the best way to mitigate dust around lunar optics is to "bake" the surrounding surface; regolith is high in iron and easy heated by microwaves. So, you literally just sweep the area around the scope with a magnetron, melting and solidifying the surface, and removing nearly all sources of dust (except for electrostatic transport, but that's relatively slow)...

Simon

They'll be RS-68B's, which are a modification of the RS-68 jointly being developed by NASA and the USAF (for Delta IV). Also, the core stage and EDS are 10 meters in diameter (like Saturn V), rather than 8 meters (like the Shuttle tank).

Simon

Yeah, LPSC will probably the first real presentation of the results. Of course, abstracts are due next week, so they'll all be placeholders...

Simon

I'd say the rough order is probably Europa (astrobio), Titan (surface/atmosphere), Io (volcanism), and Ganymede (might have an ocean too). There's a pretty good chance that the next NASA outer planets flagship mission will be a Europa orbiter, so a European mission to Titan would be a nice complement. Likewise, if the flagship goes to Titan, the ESA will probably to Jupiter...

Simon

Actually, that's not that bad of an idea, as it make it politically harder to kill either mission (though there's little chance GRAIL will be canceled). Problem is, you have to get funded first before worrying about getting canceled...

Also, considering the nightmares the Japanese had with their lunar penetrators, I wonder just how successful MoonLite would be...

Simon

Though either of these two would probably be in a crazy fast orbit like MRO, and thus only occasionally useful for com...

Simon