Phoenix Site |
Phoenix Site |
Jan 22 2005, 01:21 PM
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#1
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Rover Driver Group: Members Posts: 1015 Joined: 4-March 04 Member No.: 47 |
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Aug 27 2005, 05:05 AM
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#2
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Guests |
Once again: the reason they're willing to fly Phoenix is that:
(1) It will be investigating something that is spread evenly across thousands of km of the surface, and is therefore just about impossible to miss (although, as I say, those more detailed radar ice maps will be important in firmly nailing down a final landing site). It's conceivable that they might manage to land in an isolated patch where the ice is too deeply buried to sample, but that risk is small and therefore worth running. (2) It can be done CHEAPLY. As a way to investigate Meridiani (as was originally planned), Phoenix would have been a fiasco. As a way to investigate the precise chemical and physical nature of the near-surface ice layer -- in itself extremely important -- it's a cut-price bargain, since it utilizes an already-built craft. it is, in fact, hard to visualize any other way to properly utilize this craft. ("Urey" was relatively cost-ineffective because age-dating is required in several different places on the Martian surface, not just one.) |
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