Phoenix mission to Mars will search for climate cluesMay 23, 2008On May 25, 2008, approaching 5 p.m. PDT, NASA scientists will be wondering: Just how green is their valley? That's because at that time the Phoenix Mars Mission space vehicle will be touching down on its three legs to make a soft landing onto the northern Mars terrain called Green Valley. Of course, no valley is actually green on the Red Planet. The place got its name after analysis of images from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE instrument. HiRISE can image rocks on Mars as small as roughly a yard and a half across. Green is the color that that landing site selection team used to represent the fewest number of rocks in an area, corresponding to a desirable place to land. Thus, "green valley," a relatively rock-less region, is a "sweet spot" where the Phoenix spacecraft will land. Peter Smith of the University of Arizona is principal investigator for the mission. Also playing a key role in the Phoenix Mars mission is Raymond E. Arvidson, Ph.D., the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and chair of the earth and planetary sciences department in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Arvidson has extensive experience in planetary landing operations. He participated in the two Viking Lander missions in 1976 and has spent the past four years, first helping select the landing site for the 2004 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, then guiding the activities of the rovers Spirit and Opportunity as the mission's deputy principal investigator. Accordingly, Arvidson is NASA's Phoenix landing site working group chair. He also is the co-investigator for the Phoenix robotic arm, a crucial instrument that will collect soil and ice samples; the lead for archiving mission data, and a key science lead for the first week of surface operations. Phoenix will touch down in Green Valley with the aid of a parachute, retro rockets and three strong legs with shock absorbing footpads to slow it down. That's sol (a Martian day) zero. "We'll know within two hours of landing if Phoenix landed nominally," said Arvidson. "It will land, deploy its solar panels, take a picture and then go to bed." The next day, Sol 1, begins a crucial period of operations for the mission. Arvidson said, "We'll be checking out the instruments and begin robotic arm operations within about a week, if everything goes well, and collect soil and ice samples over the summer for analyses with the on-board instruments." Phoenix will dig to an ice-rich layer expected to lie within arm's reach of the surface. It will analyze the water and soil for evidence about climate cycles and investigate whether the environment there has been favorable for microbial life. It also carries a weather station to monitor changes in the atmosphere. The primary mission is brief, just 90 days. Martian weather channel That first tense, exciting, crucial day, four Washington University students will work with Arvidson at the University of Arizona. Two of them, sophomore Kirsten Siebach, and junior Rebecca Greenberger, are Fossett Fellows, a scholarship program established at WUSTL by the late adventurer J. Steven Fossett. A third, Tabatha Heet, will have just graduated with a bachelor's degree nine days earlier, and WUSTL doctoral candidate Selby Cull will be present as well. Thomas C. Stein, a WUSTL computer systems manager, will work with the Phoenix geology theme group and also archive data for NASA's Planetary Data System. The four students are Phoenix Mission documentarians, responsible for recording all that is done on the mission and for informally naming geological sites in the area. Heet played a key role in counting rocks in HiRISE images to enable a safe landing for Phoenix. She began the rock measurement and counting project in October of 2006. Both Heet and Arvidson are excited to have the mission so close at hand after years of planning. "It's still very exciting," the veteran Arvidson said. "This is a new place on an intriguing planet, and we can't wait to see what we'll find." Washington University in St. Louis |
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| Related Mars Mission Current Events and Mars Mission News Articles 105-Day Mars Simulation: U.S. studies focus on improving work performance From March 31 to July 14, a six-man international crew called an isolation chamber in Moscow their home. The crew, composed of four Russians and two Europeans, simulated a 105-day Mars mission full of experiments and realistic mission scenarios, including emergency situations and 20-minute communications delays. Testing, radiation testing: Northwestern transistors on space station Transistors based on a new kind of material created by Northwestern University researchers have been lifted into outer space on the space shuttle Endeavour and attached to the outside of the International Space Station for radiation testing. Missions to Mars The European Space Agency (ESA) has chosen the GSI accelerator facility to assess radiation risks that astronauts will be exposed to on a Mars mission. 'Extreme analytical chemistry' will help unravel Mars' mysteries Sam Kounaves spends his time unraveling fundamental questions in planetary science by applying "extreme analytical chemistry" to the harshest environments imaginable: Places like Death Valley, Antarctica - and now Mars. One therapeutic dose of radiation causes 30 percent spongy bone loss in mice Mice receiving just one therapeutic dose of radiation lost up to 39% of the spongy portion of their inner bone, reducing the inner bone's weight bearing connections by up to 64%, researchers reported. Mission to Mars via Antarctica As part of the Aurora Exploration Programme, ESA is considering participating in a human mission to Mars by the year 2030. Life detection instrument passes key test on road to Mars The dry, dusty, treeless expanse of Chile's Atacama Desert is the most lifeless spot on the face of the Earth, and that's why Alison Skelley and Richard Mathies joined a team of NASA scientists there earlier this month. University of Leeds academic goes searching for Martians University of Leeds biogeochemist Liane Benning is the only European scientist chosen to be part of the NASA science team looking for life on Mars. She is one of 21 geologists, astrobiologists and engineers developing scientific concepts and rover design for the astrobiology field laboratory mission to Mars in 2013. "A combination of scientific credentials, networking and good fortune has brought about this fantastic opportunity," she said. Following her selection, Dr Benning was invited to witness the landing on Mars of the Opportunity rover in January at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. "Being at the Opportunity landing was an unforgettable experience," s University of Leicester space scientists see the funny side of Mars National competition offers fragment of Mars meteorite. Scientists at the University of Leicester are offering a piece of real Martian Meteorite ...to anyone who can make them laugh the loudest! One of the key teams behind the Beagle 2 Mars Mission, which is led by the Open University, has launched a national competition to find the most amusing caption for an image on their site. The competition, posted on a Beagle 2 site at the University of Leicester, aims to raise awareness of, and involvement in, the UK's pioneering space odyssey. The European Space Agency's Mars Express Mission took off on June 2. On board is Beagle 2, the UK's Mars Lander probe due to land on Christmas Day, which has Liftoff for Aurora: Europe's first steps to Mars, the Moon and beyond ESA PR 64-2002. Step by step, the European Space Agency's new Aurora space exploration programme is beginning to take shape. This ambitious programme, started by ESA in January 2002, sets out a strategy over the next 30 years for Europe's robotic and human exploration of Mars, the Moon, and even beyond to the asteroids. On Monday 7 October, the Aurora Board of Participants met at ESA Headquarters in Paris and approved the start of assessment studies for the first four robotic missions in the programme. These assessments involve studies of two Flagship missions, which are major milestones to advance the scientific and technical knowledge in preparation for a human mission; and two Arrow mis More Mars Mission Current Events and Mars Mission News Articles |
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