Phoenix diary: Mission to Mars

[Rick]

Nasa says its Phoenix spacecraft is in good health after making the first successful landing in the north polar region of Mars.

Images sent back show a flat valley floor with polygonal features that give the ground a "paved" appearance.

These are believed to be a sign of the water-ice that lies just beneath the surface at these high latitudes.

The ice should be within reach of the probe's 2.35m-long robotic arm, which is due to be deployed this week.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7421700.stm

Keep an eye on NASA too: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html

[mickw]

It would be funny if they actually found a life form, but it got toasted by the retros 

[Rick]

NASA is preparing to flex the robotic arm on its Phoenix lander following a technical glitch which provoked a temporary comms breakdown between the spacecraft and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which relays commands to Phoenix and dispatches information from the Martian surface back to Earth.

NASA explains: "The UHF radio system used by the orbiter to communicate with the lander had gone into a standby mode earlier Tuesday for a still undetermined cause. This prevented sending Phoenix any new commands from Earth on Tuesday. Instead, the lander carried out a backup set of activity commands that had been sent Monday."

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/28/phoenix_robotic_arm/

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080527a.html

[Rick]

Nasa's Mars lander Phoenix has unstowed its robotic arm - the key tool in its mission to test the red planet's soil for the building blocks of life.

The 2.35m (7.7ft)-long titanium and aluminium extension will dig below the Martian topsoil to the water-ice which is thought to lie just beneath.

The next step will be to test the arm's four joints to be sure it is in working order before digging into the soil.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7426844.stm

Also, check the HiRISE links in today's APOD: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080530.html

[Ian]

BBC are reporting that the probe has uncovered what they think is ice. The drilling arm didn't find it, it seems the regolith was disturbed below the lander and has revealed something shiny...

[Rick]

Chopped (Ian got there first!)

See also: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080602.html

[Ian]

The first dig by the Phoenix lander was delayed due to a communications glitch with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter...

So says the BBC

[Rick]

Suppose you were developing software that would run about 50 to 60 operational tasks simultaneously, including the management of multiple mechanical and digital devices. That'd be reasonably complex. Now consider that any time a task stumbled, the software would have to correct itself. That would mean thinking ahead for every possible contingency that could affect all running tasks and designing in self-healing capabilities. That's much more complex.

More: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=319748

[Mike]

I wonder if the chips have an OS and then they code in a known language or if the whole thing is hard coded in assembly language.

[Ian]

nah, it's all running Windows Vista for Planetary Landers, Premium Edition.

Product activation is playing up, can't find Mars on the Country drop down list.

[Rick]

NASA's Phoenix Mars lander has hit a glitch in its first attempt to sample Martian soil - the Red Planet's surface may have proved too "clumpy" for one oven in the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA).

Phoenix recently scooped up a cup-sized sample of material for the "high-temperature furnace and mass spectrometer" TEGA, which features screened openings so that only particles less than 1mm can pass into the device's miniature ovens. Once inside, they're slowly heated up during a week's analysis to determine the soil's water and mineral content.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/09/phoenix_tega_glitch/

[The Thing]

Cold ice bearing soil enters warmer sample chamber... Haven't NASA seen mud before

[Rick]

The Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars lander finally has an ovenful of dirt for anlaysis, following various attempts to shake the "clumpy" Martian soil into the instrument.

The "high-temperature furnace and mass spectrometer" TEGA packs eight miniature ovens, each protected by a filter screen to prevent the entry of particles larger than 1mm. However, the Red Planet's surface resolutely refused to play ball when NASA tried to fill oven number four last Friday, and the infrared beam designed to detect particles falling into the oven showed no activity.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/12/tega_oven_phoenix/

[Rick]

The Phoenix spacecraft on Mars is finally getting to grips with the clumpy soil at its landing location.

Early efforts to grab samples for study in the onboard lab had been frustrated by the cloddy nature of the ground.

But by shaking the scoop bucket on the end of its robotic arm, Phoenix now has a very effective technique to deliver fine samples to test instruments.

Mission scientists report that Phoenix has made a very delicate dusting of material across a microscope.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7452072.stm

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

[Rick]

Nasa's Phoenix lander has provided the most magnified view ever of Martian soil.

Two scientific instruments, a microscope and a "bake-and-sniff" analyser, have begun inspecting soil samples delivered by the scoop on the spacecraft's robotic arm.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7408033.stm

(A good long article, this...)