Sol 65 and after, Digs in Neverland, Cupboard, Stone Soup, Burn Alive... Options

[nprev]

(Sigh...) And here I was playing elsewhere & completely forgot about this. (Worked all last night, just got home an hour or two ago). Any other juicy tidbits?

[jmknapp]

Did you catch the calendar date on that? I missed it.

I heard "end of the year."

So maybe the message to families of Phoenix team members is "I'll be home for Christmas."

That's right around the equinox, with the sun barely getting above 20 degrees elevation, max.

[jmknapp]

Who was that young lady? She has a great public persona. She makes a fantastic spokesperson, they should send her on tour when this is all over.

Totally agree--delightful presentation.

[centsworth_II]

I heard "end of the year."

I heard end of fiscal year which would be September 30. Not much of an extension. It must take more paperwork to extend into a new fiscal year.

[fredk]

Any other juicy tidbits?

The last question was one of the best: Boynton answered that they don't have enough water in the tega sample to get the isotope ratios, unfortunately. They'll need a higher proportion of ice to soil to do that.

But this does put the last nail in the coffin of any attempts to attribute the Dodo/Goldilocks observations to anything but water ice.

[djellison]

Yeah - it's end of fiscal year, Sol 124. For approx $2m. That puts it almost bang on an order of magnitude better value per sol.

Doug

[nprev]

It must take more paperwork to extend into a new fiscal year.

That, and an approved budget, which never happens on time. I'm certain that they're pressing for supplementary funding to be included in the inevitable continuing resolution until the budget gets passed. Normally, it shouldn't be a problem.

[jmknapp]

Any other juicy tidbits?

On the TEGA front, after the second ice-rich sample stuck to the scoop ("the last thing we were expecting") they decided to go for a dry sample & were delighted to find out that, surprise, there was indeed some ice in the sample anyway. "Champagne corks were popping all around"--I assume metaphorical, but who knows what the work environment is there. The amount of ice is small (~1%) but it almost definitely is ice because they saw it melting at 0 degrees. They also saw the H2O signature in the mass spec. So this goes beyond the first dry(ish) sample where they saw trace quantities of water, but only coming off the minerals at high temps. Boynton didn't say whether they would get isotope ratios from the data. I note that yesterday Boynton wasn't slated to be on the panel--maybe an indication of late-breaking developments--i.e., some good TEGA news.

There was a lot of presentation about the meteorological results. The animation showing the LIDAR beam at midnight looked like it showed wispy clouds or something drifting by--not sure.

There was a little bit of the feeling of listening to Pravda--one would think this is the most successful mission ever. More like--yippee, the IRS has granted an extension on our filing date! Never was heard a discouraging word. When one reporter mentioned the troubles TEGA has had in collecting an ice sample, Boynton got a little testy, saying that since they just got one, what's the problem?

[jmjawors]

More tidbits (in no particular order):

• Mark Lemmon (who I think was called "Mike" ) mentioned the completion of the 'Mission Success Pan,' as well as the beginning of a higher resolution pan called 'Happily Ever After.' An example of some of the intriguing surface details the SSI has photographed are the surprisingly un-wind-sculpted rocks all over the landing site.
• The atomic force microscope will be used "soon."
• The second WCL sample was remarkably similar to the first one. Perhaps this has something to do with their proximity to Heimdall?
• One of the remaining TEGA ovens will be reserved as a "blank" (maybe this was already well-known, but it's a detail I'd forgotten). In the meantime, the next sample will be another "dry" sample as the sticky ice problem is worked.
• The TEGA short circuit is now gone. I still don't understand this... is it one short? Two shorts? What happened to restore their faith that the remaining six ovens are safe to use? I wish they'd clear that up better. But... the important thing is that it's working!
• (I think the truth is closer to this.... )
• Lessee... There was a nice weather presentation that is summed up in this graphic.
• Two new trenches will be dug, called "Cupboard" and "Neverland." [Image]

Hopefully the briefing was recorded and will appear on this site soon.

[centsworth_II]

Boynton didn't say whether they would get isotope ratios from the data.

As already noted by fredk, in responce to the last question of the day, he said there was not enough ice in the sample to get isotope data. They still need an ice rich sample for that. I was waiting for that question and glad it just got in under the wire, but disappointed by the answer. Still, it's something to look forward to.

[elakdawalla]

I always have a hard time finding the links to the animations for these press conferences. Here it is:
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/videos_sol66.php

There were some neat ones today.

--Emily

[jmjawors]

(Sigh...) And here I was playing elsewhere & completely forgot about this...

Voila

[mars loon]

I know - it's quite obvious now, looking at the Raw's

http://www.met.tamu.edu/mars/i/SS061EFF901...8_16AA3RBM1.jpg

I wondered the same thing. and that link really clarifies everything !

[fredk]

How did we miss that lidar image?!

What amazes me about this (apart from the fact no one here spotted the beam first!) is that the beam is visible in broad daylight! (Those images were mid-afternoon.) I would've thought maybe at night...

Edit: the images were near 3am, but of course the sun is up all night now.

Light does not backscatter well from air, and Martian air is extremely thin, so we must be seeing backscattering from the dust. Martian air tends to be much dustier than earth's, and I doubt the beam would be visible in normal daylight conditions on earth.

This reminds me - anyone recall hearing a tau measurement for Phoenix?

edit - not only did no one notice the images, but apparently we all missed Lemmon's caption:

SSI Image of LIDAR beam

[slinted]

Sol 67 image of the new 'Cupboard' trench, next to Dodo-Goldilocks:

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images/gallery/lg_17400.jpg