Phoenix Mission to Mars

[sheeny]

This is from todays Nature News highlights:

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080506/full/453142a.html

Al.

[Lester]

Very interesting, hope all goes well for the landing in May.

Thanks Al

[gaa_ian]

This is very exciting news and promises the best opportunity yet for discovering life on Mars !

To Quote the JPL at NASA:


Phoenix Mission Ready For Mars Landing
Phoenix is preparing to end its long journey and begin a three-month mission to taste and sniff fistfuls of Martian soil and buried ice. The lander is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet May 25.

[Ric]

Exciting times for sure, Mars landing always hold a measure of intigue for me. I was reading where NASA terms the landing schedule as the "7 minutes of terror"

Cheers

[GrahamL]

Its pretty amazing whats progressed in the last 50 years of space exploration :thumbsup:...


Putting a couple of pizza ovens on mars is pretty cool :P

[snas]

Just finished reading "The Origin of Life" by Paul Davies. Very interesting and thought provoking. He is feels that there alomst certainly was life on Mars, but probably not (on the surface at least) for the last 3 billion years. However, as microbial life has been detected living deep within the Earth's crust, Paul Davies feels that it is not impossible that life may still exist deep under the surface of Mars. If this is the case, then Phoenix is unlikely to collect anything actually living, but may perhaps collect evidence of things formerly living. Who knows?
Anyway, I've gone on from Origin of Life to "Quantum Evolution" which seems like it may be at least as thought provoking as the former.

Regards
Stuart

[iceman]

It's landing this weekend, isn't it?

I hope it goes well. I can't wait to see the science it uncovers.

[sheeny]

ATM it's 6d 1h or so till landing... my calcs make that Monday.

Al.

[JimmyH155]

COR! :scared: Read that stuff on spaceinfo.com It sure is scary what they are trying to do... Landing with a fighter plane radar, 12 separate rockets, a parachute that might come down on top of it, electric motors many years old., some hardware with no redundancy... Wow, if it gets down what an achievement that will be:D

[cpoc]

It's not rocket science.... oh wait yes it is ;)

I've always loved the "Scotty" approach to space exploration... MIR designed to last 5 years... lasted 15. Any number of deep space probes designed to last a relatively short time.... still sending data from the furthest reaches of our solar system (well furthest we have yet reached anyway).

But it's reading things like that, that make you feel it's reasonable that a few probes have had a less than successful landing (though that one that was a result of an error between metric and imperial was a bit of an embarrassment).

Looking forward to the results :D

[Liz]

Just been on NASA site and is 4days/20 hours until landing, which makes it about Monday morning 0930 ish. I will be tuning in to the broadcast.

[gaa_ian]

Monday Morning 09:30 Eh ..... looks like I will have to book a conference room at work with a big screen TV and an internet connection :D
I have made this mission the main topic of my science show this week ....
I have just uploaded the first podcast on the mission to
http://www.askthescienceguru.com/
Hope you enjoy it ;)

[Mr. Subatomic]

Is NASA streaming any live video of the landing?

[Liz]

Just over 24 hours before the Phoenix lander touches down, and all is going well.
Nasa TV will broadcast live landing commentary, listening to radio signals that Phoenix has entered the Martian atmosphere, then ultimately the landing.
This is some of the latest info on mission
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/blogs/20080524.html
You can access Nasa TV easily on the internet. One of the sites is accessed from here - http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/0805-phoenix-mars-landing-coverage.html
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
Am looking forward to it all, and I enjoyed the podcast Ian :)

[gaa_ian]

Thanks Liz, glad you liked the podcast :thumbsup:
From what I can gather, there wont be pictures during the landing.
It will be some time after the landing before the video becomes available.
I will certainly be tuned in to the NASA channel on my PC at work on Monday morning anyhow. ;)

[JonathanN]

Hello again all,

I thought I might draw your attention to the special Mars page I've put up at www.spaceinfo.com.au/marsmain.html (http://www.spaceinfo.com.au/marsmain.html)

As Liz has mentioned, NASA TV will be covering it from 8:00am Sydney time for those who want to witness the landing on the web. (You know what I mean -- there won't be any live pictures coming back, but hopefully there'll be lots of shots of excited people jumping around in mission control.) If you're near a TV with cable/satellite, you can also watch coverage on Sky News from (I'm guessing) around 9:45am. Yours truly will be there, burbling on in my usual fashion.

If you live in or near Canberra, you can go along to the NASA tracking station at Tidbinbilla where they'll be having live feeds and special activities. There's a link at the same page quoted above.

Only one image is expected back from Mars on the first day -- it should be in by shortly after midday Sydney time.

Cheers,

Jonathan


Jonathan Nally
Editor
SpaceInfo.com.au
www.spaceinfo.com.au (http://www.spaceinfo.com.au/)

[gaa_ian]

Awesome stuff Jonathan, exciting day ahead for you tomorrow !
I have just updated my blog with a in depth look at the mission
http://www.nightskysecrets.com/blog/2008/05/mars-phoenix-lander-touchdown-25th-may.html
Lets hope it goes well !

[Tamtarn]

Phoenix Has Landed Safely !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup: :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Starkler]

Its alive its alive!

Radio downlink just confirmed with lander just having come over the 'horizon'.

[Starkler]

Much cheering a moment ago as the first pictures arrived showing the surface and that the solar arrays have correctly deployed.

:party: :cheers::party: :party: :cheers::party:

Well done NASA :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Where are the pictures!?

[Liz]

some pics are coming thru of Mars soil/landers feet/solar panels!!

[Liz]

On nasa Tv

[Lester]

Awesome, thanks for the link Johnathan.

What an exciting moment.

[iceman]

See them now - how very cool!

What an awesome achievement.

[Starkler]

pic

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html

[acropolite]

I'm 55 years young and it's It's amazing to think that in my lifetime, man has made his first venture in to space, landed on the moon and can safely land an unmanned probe on a distant planet.

[gaa_ian]

Amazing Stuff ... great to see they made it.
Unfortunately my Video does not work properly on my work PC, so no live coverage for me.
Will have to watch the replay when I get home !

[tornado33]

Heres one of the images from Phoenix
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images/gallery/lg_437.jpg
Ive drawn around the odd feature, a pile of fine dust just left there. Wonder if it is a tiny dune, or dust pushed there by the landing thrusters?
Scott

[iceman]

Wow, check out the current image on the Pheonix mission main page:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080526.html

Shows Pheonix parachuting down to the surface as captured by the Mars Orbiter. That is absolutely amazing!

[leinad]

I don't know if its just me but the soil looks lumpy and wet, like its been raining. Amazing pics; but why are they now only providing cropped med. quality images on the website ???

[edwardsdj]

That is a truely amazing image. The technology just keeps getting better and better.

I wonder how long it will be before imaging a spacecraft during the decent phase on Mars will be possible by amateurs ;)

[iceman]

I am so blown away by the parachute image..

It's featured again (with a landing shot) on APOD today:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080527.html

[Deeno]

'Bout as long as it takes to get an amateur in orbit I reckon:anaut:

These images ARE truly amazing........and it only cost four times what the NSW Labour government spent on advertising during the last year:whistle:

[iceman]

Another amazing picture, today - showing the lander on the surface as pictured by the HiRISE camera.

SpaceWeather (http://www.spaceweather.com)
Pheonix main page (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/)

I am still blown away!

[iceman]

This image shows the lander, the heat shield and the parachute!

Pheonix labelled image (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/images/press/PSP_008591_2485_RGB_Lander_labeled. html)

[iceman]

oh my god, this has to be the most amazing image of the parachuting, with a crater in the background - again as captured by HiRise.

Descent picture (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/images/press/PSP_008579_9020_descent.html)

That's my favourite so far!

btw, have a look at all these images plus more at:
Pheonix Images page (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/images/index.html)

[sheeny]

Here's the latest release about Phoenix from Nature:

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080527/full/news.2008.857.html

Get it while access is free;):thumbsup:.

Al.

[gaa_ian]

They are amazing images to be sure !
The crater image would have to be my Favourite too

[edwardsdj]

That image with the crater in the background is utterly amazing. I'm so surprised there is no motion blur in these images of the decent.

[sheeny]

This is from this morning's Nature Physics Portal Alert:

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080528/pdf/453576a.pdf

Al.

[Ric]

Thanks for the link Al, I can't wait for the tests to begin on the soil. It will be interesting to see what it reveals.

Cheers

[sheeny]

Another article (well mainly another version of that crater Phoenix photo) from Nature:

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080604/pdf/453712a.pdf

Al.

[sheeny]

I note a new article in Nature today where there are concerns that dandruff and dead skin cells from assembly of Phoenix could threaten the validity of tests for signs of life...:rolleyes:

I can't access the actual article, unfortunately.http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080606/full/news.2008.878.html

Al.

[iceman]

Great article and animation on the main NASA Phoenix page about sprinkling the dirt/dust rather than dumping it - as previously results had clogged.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080610.html

Won't be long and they'll drop it into the microscope and the ovens.

[iceman]

NASA are ready to use their "wet chemistry" set for the first time today.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080623.html

They'll be analysing a sample that they scooped up from the surface, to test for salts, acidity and other characteristics.

[sheeny]

Here's the latest article in Nature:

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080718/full/news.2008.965.html

Al.

[iceman]

Very cool picture showing an 11 day composite of the Sun on Mars..

Due to the high latitude, the Sun never sets!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/images/press/midnight_sun_046_056.html