[X] My Assistant

[RNeuhaus]

This topic is for posts concerning to any preparation of Phoenix Lander Mission to Mars programmed to launch on August 2007 (less than 2 years... but the time will fly)

http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/phoenix.html

Overview

The Phoenix mission is the first chosen for NASA's Scout program, an initiative for smaller, lower-cost, competed spacecraft. Named for the resilient mythological bird, Phoenix uses a lander that was intended for use by 2001's Mars Surveyor lander prior to its cancellation. It also carries a complex suite of instruments that are improved variations of those that flew on the lost Mars Polar Lander.

Canada Will Land Instrument On Mars To Study Weather

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-future-05t.html

Rodolfo

[climber]

This is an article from Space.com :
"Backhoe Ho-Down on Mars
The next robotic arm headed for the red planet is ready for final testing and installation onto NASA’s Mars Phoenix lander, due for liftoff in August of next year.The backhoe-like arm was built by Alliance Spacesystems, Inc. (ASI) of Pasadena, California. Once on Mars in May 2008, the arm is assigned a key duty of digging a two-foot deep trench in Mars’ north-polar region.
At the business end of the arm is a scoop about the size of a garden trowel that will do the digging down to an ice layer that is potentially rock-hard. The arm will deliver soil samples to a suite of devices on the lander’s deck for detailed analysis. A camera mounted on the arm will view layers in the freshly-dug trench wall.
The agile arm has a 7.5-foot reach (2.3 meters), with the aluminum and titanium device weighing less than 22 pounds (9.7 kilograms). The robotic arm – inherited from a shelved 2001 Mars mission to the equator – could not dig into hard icy soils at cold temperatures and had to be completely redesigned. Mars Phoenix is a three-month mission expected to yield new clues to the history of water on Mars and whether the environment was ever conducive to life."

[mars loon]

This is an article from Space.com :
"Backhoe Ho-Down on Mars
The next robotic arm headed for the red planet is ready for final testing and installation onto NASA’s Mars Phoenix lander, due for liftoff in August of next year.....
...The robotic arm – inherited from a shelved 2001 Mars mission to the equator – could not dig into hard icy soils at cold temperatures and had to be completely redesigned. Mars Phoenix is a three-month mission expected to yield new clues to the history of water on Mars and whether the environment was ever conducive to life."

I have actually seen and handled an engineering prototype of the completely redesigned scoop and have written an article that I'm trying to publish somewhere.

There was a full scale model of Phoenix at the 2005 JPL Open House. The mission may last up to 5 months and will likely end when the craft is buried under an accumulation of frozen carbon dioxide ice.

[edstrick]

Interesting item on SpaceRef: NASA is going to procure laser-retroreflectors to install on the Phoenix lander so that it can be precisely lidar-bounced and located from orbit.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=20608

"NASA Stennis Solicitation: Phoenix Mars Scout Laser Retroreflector Arrays "
"NASA/GSFC intends to purchase an Engineering Model and two (2) Flight Laser Retroflector Arrays from ITE, Inc ..."
"GSFC intents to acquire a set of reflector arrays for the Phoenix Mars Scout mission due for launch in the summer of 2007. These arrays will enable the Phoenix lander to be located from Mars orbit"

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

A bit more on the new ice-sampling tool in Deborah Bass' lastest blog entry ( http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/features/we...eborah_bass.php , Apr. 24 entry).

[Cugel]

spacedaily

If you can't make it as a MER rover driver, this could be an interesting job vacancy: Mars arm operator.

[djellison]

reads much like the testbed they put together for Beagle 2 here in Leicester.

Doug

[dvandorn]

spacedaily

If you can't make it as a MER rover driver, this could be an interesting job vacancy: Mars arm operator.

Oh, gee -- that sounds like a really bad come-on line: "Hey, baby, wanna come back to my place and watch me operate my Mars arm???"



-the other Doug

[RNeuhaus]

Interesting interview with Chris Mckay about Phonix mission.

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Digging_D..._Mckay_999.html

The north pole is most desirable than the south pole because of the following factors:

1. The north is lower and smoother than the south. Easier to land
2. South is higher and heavily cratered terrain and harder to land.
3. South needs deep drill to get interesting data.
4. North needs less drilling to find liquid water (probably) at the surface in the more recent past.
5. In the north there might be more young ice.

He does not believe to find any organic materials...

Rodolfo

[centsworth_II]

....He does not believe to find any organic materials...

I believe this statement was in reference to MSL and Exomars which will land in areas where no ice is present to protect organics (if they ever existed) from oxidants. As far as Phoenix goes, he says that, if present, organics could be protected by the ice and detected. He doesn't say if he expects phoenix to find organics.

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

Public Invited to UA's Phoenix Mars Mission Open House Oct. 21
By University of Arizona Communications
October 11, 2006

[antipode]

Hi all

Not sure if this has been asked before, but here goes.

Assuming Phoenix outlasts its 90 day warranty - what will finally 'kill' it first - declining temperatures or oncoming polar darkness? I ask this because it seems that at this latitude, the winter frost/snowpack will be pretty deep - it would be wonderful (and sad) if the lander could document its own burial in snow! (until it WAS buried of course).

Is this likely, or will the lander be dead before any snowpack builds up around the vehicle? I always thought the Viking 2 frost pictures were evocative, and here we have a chance to go one better, and presumably catch all sorts of other polar weather processes (development of the polar cloud hood?) as well.

Phil

[Rakhir]

I don't know the creation process of martian frost/snow, but if some snow is able to build up on solar panels, even if the solar power and the temperature are still good enough, the death might be quick.

[helvick]

Without snow\frost degrading the panels power output will follow something like this:

CODE

Sol   0: 100%
Sol  30: 102%
Sol  60: 96%
Sol  90: 88%
Sol 120: 76%
Sol 150: 60%
Sol 180: 44%
Sol 210: 31%
Sol 240: 16%
Sol 270: 5%
Sol 300: 0%

My guess is that there can be no precipitation effects until insolation drops well below the levels we've seen at the MER sites ie 30% of the initial max. So frost/snow effects if any should only come into play after around Sol 210.

[Julius]

Looking at the MRO image of the region close to where Phoenix should make its landing,I would think JPl should be concerned about stone slabs littering the whole area.Has anyone given any consideration as this may be a serious hindrance to a safe landing.

[tedstryk]

Unlikely as it is, I think it would be really cool if Phoenix can be reawakend after the winter. Even if it can't do much. It would be neat to take a panorama for change detection, especially with regard to its trench, which will have experienced frost coming and going.