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Sol 150+, Time marches on...
ConyHigh
post Oct 29 2008, 04:13 AM
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QUOTE (mars loon @ Oct 28 2008, 04:59 PM) *
very sad to see fading away

like we are losing a close family member

lets enjoy our remaining time together and remember the great times we shared

ken


It's extremely sad for those of us who were close to Phoenix. Many long hours, around the clock, spent with this wonderful creature. I saw her -- within a few feet -- before she left this sphere. And spent hours and days with those wonderful minds who created this dream and made something happen so many tens of million miles away. It will be years before we realize all the possibilities that our little Phoenix has created. She will remain a testimonial and a tribute to the hundreds of people who worked to make her and the mission a success.
Cheers little Phoenix! We salute you!

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Flecks 'ray
post Oct 29 2008, 05:49 AM
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There've been a few images of very light frost on the deck, but does anyone know if there are expected to be any images showing significant CO2 frost build-up on the arrays before it's "lights out". If so, when might that occur?
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01101001
post Oct 29 2008, 07:03 AM
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From the sunlight hours diagram from the last briefing, CO2 encasement begins around February 2, somewhere a little beyond sol 240. But, encasement is probably solid CO2 with no daily break, growing thicker each day.

Before that there'd be partial frosts that sublimated away during the day. University of Arizona Phoenix FAQ, probably written long ago, mentions CO2 frost:

QUOTE
However, summer will soon turn into the harsh Martian winter and mission management anticipates that the loss of sunlight, extreme arctic cold and accumulation of carbon dioxide frost will prevent operations by December or Jan 2009.


So, maybe we'll see some just before the end. Probably all depends on how long she can last.

Edit: This by AJS Rayl, back in the sunny days of May, also says it will be close: Planetary News: Phoenix (2008):

QUOTE
The mission will end when the Sun travels low enough in the sky that Phoenix no longer receives sufficient power. The spacecraft will conserve power as long as possible. The cameras will search for the first carbon dioxide frost deposits while the Meteorological Station (MET) instrument monitors the weather conditions.

The northern autumnal equinox will arrive on Mars on December 26, 2008, bringing winter darkness to the north pole. Phoenix will not survive past this date. In fact, it may not survive beyond November.
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ustrax
post Oct 29 2008, 11:22 AM
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Hey...looks like I have some dust in my eye...

Man...this leaves me with a knot on my throat...truly does... sad.gif


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MahFL
post Oct 29 2008, 11:45 AM
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Here in NE Florida I scraped water ice off my car windscreen this am. Was about 2 C air temp. Compared to -95 C that is not too bad.
I sure hope we see a thick ice covering near Phoenix.
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Andrei
post Oct 29 2008, 09:18 PM
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This decision to stop the RA and TEGA heaters remindes me of a song of Smallfaces - All or nothing.

P.S. - hello all!


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nprev
post Oct 29 2008, 10:14 PM
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The happy place here is that she made it, she's performing brilliantly, and she's an unqualified success by any reasonable standard. Consider the alternative if any of the hundreds of fatal things that could have gone wrong did.

It'll hurt like hell to lose her, but so glad that we had her at all.


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Stu
post Oct 29 2008, 11:37 PM
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I know this might sound strange - almost heretical - coming from one of the Forum's most unashamedly romantic machine huggers, but I'm not feeling so distraught over Phoenix's demise. I read the report about the heaters being switched off and although I knew it represented the beginning of the end I couldn't help thinking "Well, fair enough..." I think maybe it's because, from the very start, it was made clear that she would almost certainly not survive to Christmas, it would just get too cold, too dark, too hostile for her to keep going. Or maybe it's because there's not a lot more science she can actually do now, not with power levels so low and all her ovens full or broken. I don't know. But in my mind Phoenix - unlike our seemingly immortal, Too Stubborn To Die rovers - has always been a butterfly: a delicate creature of elegant beauty that emerged from an ugly chrysalis, but was destined from the start to live a short, exciting life before fading away and dying.

I'll miss her when she's gone, too, but I'll always look back on her - and our - brief stay in Barsoom's arctic and smile.


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01101001
post Oct 29 2008, 11:47 PM
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Safe mode.

Planetary Society Weblog: Phoenix update: Entry into and exit from safe mode, no science for a few days' recharging

QUOTE
The Phoenix mission just issued a statement announcing that, in response to a "low power fault," the spacecraft went into safe mode yesterday. This much was actually expected to happen because of the instructions sent yesterday to the spacecraft to turn off the heater that once kept the robotic arm and TEGA instruments warm. However, the spacecraft evidently surprised mission control by taking more self-protective activities than were anticipated, switching unexpectedly to the "B" side of its electronics. (Like Hubble and indeed most spacecraft, Phoenix basically has two brains, one of them kept unused until and unless its first brain fails. I wish I had that.) It also shut down one of its two batteries.


JPL Phoenix Mission News: Phoenix Mission Status Report (October 29)
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Stu
post Oct 30 2008, 01:07 AM
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Hang on in there, Phoenix...

Attached Image


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nprev
post Oct 30 2008, 01:28 AM
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laugh.gif laugh.gif laugh.gif ...and if you could teleport that stuff there, you would! Cool pic, Stu. smile.gif


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peter59
post Oct 30 2008, 05:09 PM
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Mark Lemmon has deleted Sol 152 and Sol 153 from Phoenix SSI raw images directory. It's end ?


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Stu
post Oct 30 2008, 05:11 PM
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Maybe just 'cos there are no images planned for those sols... ?

Our bird's flames are dying down now though, that's for sure... sad.gif


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Deimos
post Oct 30 2008, 06:40 PM
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QUOTE (peter59 @ Oct 30 2008, 05:09 PM) *
Mark Lemmon has deleted Sol 152 and Sol 153 from Phoenix SSI raw images directory. It's end ?


No, that was just clean up. The site will not be updated until new SSI data are expected, rather than cluttering it with sols of non-plans. So while the situation is grim and I cannot guarantee there will be more updates, there was no intent to signal the end. The engineering team is working hard. And even if all else fails, there's still a "test" of lazarus mode. The UA and NASA sites are a better way to get such news than trying to read between the lines elsewhere.
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peter59
post Oct 30 2008, 07:20 PM
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QUOTE (Deimos @ Oct 30 2008, 07:40 PM) *
No, that was just clean up.

Thanks Deimos, I had hope that my assumption is erroneous. I have great hope that now, after the completion of work by RA and TEGA, the Happy Pan will be continued. pancam.gif
Greetings to the whole team. Thank you for everything you have already done.


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