Phoenix diary: Mission to Mars

[Rick]

NASA's Phoenix lander has detected snow falling from Martian clouds, hinting that liquid water may once have been common on the surface of the Red Planet. However, the snow seen by the explorer robot didn't merely turn to rain as it fell - it vapourised, never even reaching the ground at all.

"Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars," said Jim Whiteway, of York University in Toronto, speaking of the results obtained by the Meteorological Station on the Phoenix. The Station is Canadian supplied.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/30/phoenix_martian_white_xmas/

[Rick]

What would you hear if you were on Mars? A slight hiss from whatever wind there might be and then your own death rattle, probably - but the Phoenix Mars Lander is aiming to find out what other sounds the red planet has to offer.

The Lander has a microphone, fitted as part of an imaging system that was going to take photos as it descended to the Martian surface. It wasn't switched on because it might have endangered the landing.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/03/listening_for_sounds_on_mars/

[Rick]

The Mars Phoenix Lander is in a race against time and temperatures as it struggles to resolve some key questions about the Red Planet.

The onset of the harsh Martian winter means that there is now less Sun to charge Phoenix's batteries.

Researchers at the University of Arizona who are in charge of the mission are also struggling with the soil conditions as they try to sift the dirt for evidence of organic chemicals.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7680981.stm

[Mike]

NASA loses contact with the Phoenix Lander.............

More from Sky News

[MarkS]

Is it possible it could spring back to life when Winter is over?

[Mike]

I am guessing they will probably try to resume contact with it once the sun reappears. It all depends if dust has settled on the solar panels though. The two rovers were lucky that they had dust devils clean the dust off the panels for them.

[Rick]

The Phoenix robot lander, situated in the arctic dune seas of Mars, has ceased communicating and NASA does not expect to hear from it again. The onset of autumn in the chilly polar plains of the Red Planet has, as was expected, meant that the probe's solar panels can no longer supply sufficient power to keep it running.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/11/phoenix_dead/

[Rick]

Nasa says its Phoenix lander on the surface of Mars has gone silent and is almost certainly dead.

Engineers have not heard from the craft since Sunday 2 November when it made a brief communication with Earth.

Phoenix, which landed on the planet's northern plains in May, had been struggling in the increasing cold and dark of an advancing winter.

The US space agency says it will continue to try to contact the craft but does not expect to hear from it.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7721032.stm

[mickw]

WOODLANDS, Texas — Evidence is building that NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander plopped down on a microbe-friendly location.

Descending onto Mars on May 25, 2008, Phoenix was designed to study the history of water and habitability potential in the Martian arctic's ice-rich soil. It did not pack instruments designed to find life. To date, there is no firm evidence that Mars ever hosted biology.

More:   http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090330-phoenix-habitable-mars.html

[mickw]

During its stint in the Martian Arctic, NASA's Phoenix Mars lander made an impressive array of measurements and discoveries that will help fine-tune scientists' understanding of the chemistry and environment of the red planet.

Perhaps no discovery was more surprising than the detection of an odd type of salt that Phoenix scientists think could have an important impact on the Martian water cycle and the planet's ability to support life.

In a set of papers presented last week at the 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in The Woodlands, Texas, several Phoenix team members put forth their ideas on how the class of salts, called perchlorates, might affect Mars' water cycle; how it might boost or inhibit potential Martian life; how it might form a sludge underneath Mars' polar cap, lubricating them and allowing them to flow, as glaciers do on Earth; and how the salt even got there in the first place.

More:   http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090414-st-perchlorate-sludge.html

[Rick]

Nasa's Mars Odyssey orbiter is set to listen for possible radio transmissions from the Phoenix Mars lander, to check if it has survived the Martian winter.

The agency said that communication from the lander was "extremely unlikely".

Phoenix's last communication was on 2 November 2008, after it completed its study of an arctic Martian site.

Since then, this landing site has gone through autumn, winter and part of spring, and Phoenix was not designed to survive such temperature extremes.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8454949.stm

[mickw]

Odds Slim for Resurrecting Defunct Mars Lander

More:   It's Broken

[mickw]

NASA's long-dormant Phoenix Mars Lander is broken and officially down for the count, with new images taken by an orbiting probe showing severe damage to the spacecraft's solar panels due to the harsh Martian winter.

Repeated attempts by NASA in recent months to reestablish contact with Phoenix following its winter hibernation were unsuccessful, with no peeps coming from the lander

More:   Ashes