Phoenix Landing a Success!

Phoenix has made a successful landing on Mars yesterday. Very soon after the landing, it started sending pictures of itself and the area around it. The Phoenix crew (right) is very happy with the results.

The above picture is of one of Phoenix' landing pads. Each landing pad of the Phoenix spacecraft is approximately the size of a dinner plate. Notice that the landing pad is covered in dust. This is the result of the lander kicking up some of the soil during landing. However, most of the area around the lander is still in the original state. This is a good outcome since the Phoenix landing has not contaminated and affected the land, not affecting the research that Phoenix will later conduct.

To see the latest pictures that Phoenix has sent back, visit this page.

Seven Minutes of Terror!

Seven Minutes of Terror!

That's what the spacecraft and the team working on the Phoenix spacecraft will go through, when Phoenix attempts a landing this Sunday on Mars. This is when the space vehicle will first hit the atmosphere of Mars, go through parachute deployment, and finally hit the surface, with many more things in between. However, since signals between the Earth and Mars take about ten minutes to travel, the crew working on Phoenix will get the first signals that the landing process has started, after the whole landing sequence has actually ended! So how will Phoenix try to avoid the fate of many previous Martian missions and not splatter on the ground?

Phoenix will have the support of three Mars orbiters, that are currently circling the planet, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Odyssey and ESA's Mars Express. The signals sent by Phoenix during its entry on to Mars will rely on the successful relay of the message to Earth by these orbiters. This is the first time any Mars lander will have the support of the relay system, both for landing and on the surface.

First, Phoenix will enter the Martian atmosphere at 21,000 km/h (13,000 m/h). A parachute, very similar to the Viking spacecrafts', will open at 12.6 km (7.8 miles) above Mars. The parachute will slow down the hurtling spacecraft with drag. Meanwhile, as Phoenix will near the surface, an onboard radar will give the altitude and velocity of the descent of the Phoenix spacecraft, allowing the onboard computer to make adjustments as necessary. This step is necessary, since upon entering and until the parachute opening, big errors in positioning can be made.

After two minutes of descent with the parachute, Phoenix will jettison its back shell, to which the parachute is attached. Then Phoenix will free fall, for half a second, towards the surface of Mars, and then ignite its engines. Nine engines from the total twelve will pulse for 10 seconds. The remaining three will fire steadily, for stability. Right before touchdown, as a finishing touch, the vehicle is turned, to increase the amount of sunlight that will fall on the solar panels.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be able to give course adjustments if necessary up to three hours before Phoenix lands on Mars. However, during the landing, these people can only stand back, watch and hope, while they endure the seven minutes of terror.

The following video shows an animated launch and landing of the Phoenix, and gives a very nice visual of the above process:

Image from NASA.

Phoenix Components

The Phoenix spacecraft, launched in August 2007, is landing on Mars this Sunday. It is composed of many different types of components that will help conduct its research on Mars. Some of these instruments are from previous missions that did were abandoned.

One of the major components is the robotic arm. As said in the previous post, the robotic arm will help Phoenix to dig through the topsoil to reach the frozen water underneath. The arm will then bring up the samples up onto the lander for further analysis. This arm also has an attached camera, which allows Phoenix to see what and where it is digging.

There are various types of cameras on board the Phoenix. The Surface Stereo Imager is the primary camera on board, and is also a high resolution stereo camera. The Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer will bake and analyze martian dust. The Mars Descent Imager will take pictures of the Martian soil when the lander is descending, starting when the aeroshell is departed, at about 8 km above Mars. Using the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer, researchers can examine Martian soil particles as small as 16 micrometers across.

Phoenix also sports a Meteorological Station, with which Phoenix will monitor the daily weather during its entire mission.

The Phoenix DVD is a DVD attached to the Phoenix lander made by The Planetary Society, with Visions of Mars recorded onto it. It is made from special silica glass that will allow it to withstand the conditions of Mars for many years. The DVD contains works from literature and art about Mars, like War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and messages from Carl Sagan. The Planetary Society also collected names of people in fall of 2006 to place on the front of the disc, about a quarter of million. I myself wasn't one of these people, since I found out about this after the launch of Phoenix. The disc can be comparable to the Voyager Golden Record, which was sent with the Voyager spacecraft.

The Phoenix

If you haven't found out already, the Phoenix spacecraft is scheduled to land this Sunday, May 25, 2008 on Mars. So what exactly is the Phoenix spacecraft and mission?

Basically, the Phoenix spacecraft is a lander, that will land on Mars and, using its onboard instruments, conduct research on the surface of the planet. It will look for environments suitable for microbial life and, in that process, learn more about the history of water on Mars. Since Mars

has no liquid water, Phoenix is landing in the arctic region of Mars. In 2002, the Mars Odyssey Orbiter showed a high amount of subsurface water in the Arctic plains (image at left). The lander will, with its robotic arm dig through the protective top soil layer (image at right), reaching its way into the

water below. After digging,

the lander will then bring in the soil and the water onboard on to the lander platform, where scientific instruments will analyze the samples.

The name Phoenix comes from the fact that the Phoenix program is very similar to the mythological namesake, which is a bird that is reborn from its ashes after it burns and dies. Many of the spacecraft's parts come from pervious projects. For example, the lander that the spacecraft is using has been modified from the Mars Surveyor 2001 lander.

Images from JPL, LPL, NASA.

Phoenix Is Go For Landing

Phoenix is go for landing.

The Phoenix Spacecraft is currently being prepared for its landing on Mars, to take place on this Sunday, May 25, at about 7:30 P.M. NASA has put up many ways that you can stay informed and current with information about the landing. You can watch the broadcast of the event on TV on the NASA channel, if you get it. You can also read the Phoenix Landing Blog, with updated information as the landing date creeps closer. There is also a countdown on the Phoenix web page (if you have Mac OS 10.5, you can even create a widget of this countdown for Dashboard).

Also, as the moment of landing comes closer, I will try to post updated news about the spacecraft, the landing, and Mars.

Image from NASA.gov