NASA To Check For Survival Of Mars Lander (, Phoenix)

[Wilms]

NASA To Check For Survival Of Mars Lander

18 January 2010

NASA’s Mars Odyssey will begin a three-day initiative on Monday to listen for possible, albeit unlikely, radio transmissions from the Phoenix Mars Lander, which was believed frozen near the red planet’s north pole following a five month study of the site in November 2008.

“We do not expect Phoenix to have survived, and therefore do not expect to hear from it. However, if Phoenix is transmitting, Odyssey will hear it," said Chad Edwards, chief telecommunications engineer for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

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Phoenix originally landed on Mars in May 2008, and then spent five months conducting experiments. The lander became the first spacecraft to detect the presence of water on another planet by confirming the existence of ice on Mars.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1810292/nasa_to_check_for_survival_of_mars_lander/

[Wilms]

1. If Phoenix Arises, Science Could Flow Quickly

If Phoenix Arises, Science Could Flow Quickly

January 17th, 2010

Written by Ken Kremer

If the miraculous happens and contact is unexpectedly re-established with NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, science could flow almost instantly if the ships vital operating systems are healthy. Indeed a science plan could be swiftly put in place after determining the condition of the lander, says Doug McCuiston, director of Mars Exploration at NASA Headquarters. McCuiston explained to me in an interview that the initial science would be “a surface change and atmospheric imaging campaign that could begin nearly immediately. In that instance, if the cameras are operable it is easy to begin an imaging campaign with real-time planning”.

A robust and wide ranging science agenda far beyond pictures could theoretically be implemented if Phoenix does amazingly survive and the pre-programmed Lazarus mode kicks in and she re-awakens with a functional arm. The goal would be to restart the assessment of habitability in the martian arctic where humanity in the form of a robotic surrogate first touched water beyond earth.

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In fact, no one on the team really expects Phoenix to revive following the exceedingly harsh winter weather she has had to endure since falling silent more than one year ago on November 2, 2008. “Keep in mind, we think the chances are very low that it survived winter,” McCuiston emphasized to me. “NASA hardware has never been exposed to this type of environment on Mars”.

Phoenix landed on the northern plains of the martian artic on May 25, 2008 in a polar permafrost region that proved to be within arms reach of a vast, rock hard layer of frozen water ice. She completed 5 months of intense science, accomplishing break though discoveries at a high northern latitude. She then perished exactly as foreseen when the power output from the solar arrays plunged due to the onset of harsh seasonal weather causing dimming sunlight and bitterly frigid temperatures. At that point there were 17 hours of sunlight per sol (martian day) which are 24.7 hours in duration. Phoenix exceeded her targeted lifetime by over 2 months.

http://www.universetoday.com/2010/01/17/if-phoenix-arises-science-could-flow-quickly/