Marte: arriva la sonda Phoenix

La sonda Phoenix si avvicina a Marte
L'atterraggio previsto per le 1.53.
Operazione ad alto rischio
(...)
Luogo di atterraggio: Polo Nord di Marte - 68 gradi di latitudine.
In Italia saranno le 1.53 di questa notte (tra 2 ore).
Quando la sonda trasmetterà il suo segnale, a quell’ora vorrà dire che sarà sbarcata 15 minuti prima perché tanto impiegano le onde elettromagnetiche ad arrivare sulla Terra pur correndo alla velocità della luce.
Marte al momento dello sbarco è infatti lontano 276 milioni di chilometri.
Quando Phoenix arriverà nella zona nota come Vastitas Borealis, lassù sarà pomeriggio inoltrato.
I controlli effettuati dalla sonda Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in orbita marziana dicono che in queste ore sull’area stanno arrivando delle correnti che portano sabbia ma non destano preoccupazione perché di debole intensità.
Phoenix nell’ultima fase di sbarco, quando rallenta la sua corsa con i retrorazzi, è in grado con razzi laterali di neutralizzare anche correnti orizzontali che potrebbero allontanarlo dal punto stabilito.
Dopo aver appoggiato molleggiando le sue gambe Phoenix starà immobile per 20 minuti aspettando che la polvere sollevata dai razzi si depositi in superficie. Ciò per evitare che questa crei problemi al dispiegamento dei due pannelli circolari di celle solari che si aprono come un ventaglio.
In questo frattempo, inoltre, i computer ordineranno anche l’evacuazione del gas elio che serviva a comprimere il propellente idrazina nei motori e questo per evitare perdite.
Se tuttavia qualche goccia di idrazina cadesse al suolo questa congelerebbe per la bassa temperatura che nel momento dello sbarco dovrebbe essere intorno ai trenta gradi sotto lo zero centigrado.
Poi automaticamente si alzerà la torretta che porta una telecamera con due obiettivi e trasmetterà la sua prima fotografia. Ma questa sarà cronaca di domani. Intanto tutto deve andare bene nel difficile tuffo nell’atmosfera di anidride carbonica che avvolge il Pianeta Rosso. Statisticamente, sulla carta, le probabilità che tutto possa andare sono del 50 per cento.
Ma qui al JPL sono pronti ad affrontare l’alto rischio: è così che si possono conquistare grandi successi e compiere grandi passi avanti nella conoscenza. E’ una strada senza alternativa. Senza il coraggio della sfida non si ottiene nulla. (Corriere)

NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander is set to explore the Martian arctic, looking for signs of water and conditions favorable to life. But getting there won't be easy: in the international history of the space age, only five of 13 attempts to land on Mars have succeeded.

Phoenix will enter the Martian atmosphere at nearly 13,000 miles per hour, kicking off a seven-minute series of events that must slow the lander to five miles an hour before it's three legs reach the ground. It's the first attempt at a powered landing on Mars since the Viking missions of 1976. (Nasa)

Mission Overview
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/mission/index.html

Overview

Mars is a cold desert planet with no liquid water on its surface. But in the Martian arctic, water ice lurks just below ground level. Discoveries made by the Mars Odyssey Orbiter in 2002 show large amounts of subsurface water ice in the northern arctic plain. The Phoenix lander targets this circumpolar region using a robotic arm to dig through the protective top soil layer to the water ice below and ultimately, to bring both soil and water ice to the lander platform for sophisticated scientific analysis.


The complement of the Phoenix spacecraft and its scientific instruments are ideally suited to uncover clues to the geologic history and biological potential of the Martian arctic. Phoenix will be the first mission to return data from either polar region providing an important contribution to the overall Mars science strategy "Follow the Water" and will be instrumental in achieving the four science goals of NASA's long-term Mars Exploration Program.

--Determine whether Life ever arose on Mars

--Characterize the Climate of Mars

--Characterize the Geology of Mars

--Prepare for Human Exploration

The Phoenix Mission has two bold objectives to support these goals, which are to (1) study the history of water in the Martian arctic and (2) search for evidence of a habitable zone and assess the biological potential of the ice-soil boundary.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is targeted to land in a flat valley in the arctic plains of Mars, at the center of the blue ellipse shown here. It is most likely to touch down at the very center, and least likely to land at the ellipse's edges. The ellipse is approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) long and 20 kilometers (12 miles) wide.

The black pock-looking mark above and to the left of the center of the ellipse is a small pile of rocks, informally referred to as "The Hill," which is less than a few meters (less than 10 feet) tall and more than one kilometer (about one mile) in diameter. The circular indentation outside and to the right of the ellipse is an impact crater dubbed "Heimdall," after the Norse mythological watchman, or protector, of gods.

The map shown here is made up of topography data taken by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. It shows exaggerated differences in the height of the terrain.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Mission Features
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/...dingevents.html


Phoenix Landing Events Schedule
May 21-26, 200805.14.08

Unless otherwise noted, the location for news briefings and commentary are NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Times are Pacific Daylight and some are subject to change.

Thursday, May 22
-- News briefing, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 24
-- News briefing, noon
-- Trajectory correction maneuver opportunity (TCM6), 7:46 p.m.

Sunday, May 25
NOTE: The times below for the Phoenix spacecraft events on May 25 are for a nominal scenario. Remaining navigational adjustments before May 25 could shift the times by up to about half a minute. In addition, the times for some events relative to others could vary by several seconds due to variations in the Martian atmosphere and other factors. For some events, a "give or take" range of times is given, covering 99 percent of possible scenarios from the atmospheric entry time. For events at Mars, times are listed in "Earth-receive time" (ERT) rather than "spacecraft event time" (SCET). This means the listed time incorporates the interval necessary for radio signals traveling at the speed of light to reach Earth from Mars. On landing day, May 25, the two planets are 275 million kilometers apart (171 million miles), which means it takes the signal 15 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth. For some spacecraft events, engineers will not receive immediate radio confirmation.

-- Trajectory correction maneuver opportunity (TCM6X), 8:46 a.m.
-- News briefing, noon
-- Begin non-commentary live television feed from JPL control room, 3 p.m.
-- Begin commentated live television feed from JPL control room, 3:30 p.m.
-- Propulsion system pressurization, 4:16 p.m.
-- Begin "bent-pipe" relay relay (continuous transmission of Phoenix data as it is received) through NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft to Goldstone, Calif., Deep Space Network station, 4:38 p.m.
-- Green Bank, W. Va., radio telescope listening for direct UHF from Phoenix, 4:38 p.m.
-- Cruise stage separates, 4:39 p.m.
-- Spacecraft turns to attitude for atmospheric entry, 4:40 p.m.
-- Spacecraft enters atmosphere, 4:46:33 p.m.
-- Likely blackout period as hot plasma surrounds spacecraft, 4:47 through 4:49 p.m.
-- Parachute deploys, 4:50:15 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds.
-- Heat shield jettisoned, 4:50:30 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds.
-- Legs deploy, 4:50:40 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. -
- Radar activated, 4:51:30 p.m.
-- Lander separates from backshell, 4:53:09 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds.
-- Transmission gap during switch to helix antenna 4:53:08 to 4:53:14 p.m.
-- Descent thrusters throttle up, 4:53:12 p.m.
-- Constant-velocity phase starts, 4:53:34 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds.
-- Touchdown, 4:53:52 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds.
-- Lander radio off 4:54:52 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds.
-- Begin opening solar arrays (during radio silence) 5:13 p.m.
-- Begin NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter playback of Phoenix transmissions recorded during entry, descent and landing, 5:28 p.m. However, data for analysis will not be ready until several hours later.
-- Begin Europe's Mars Express spacecraft playback of Phoenix transmissions recorded during entry, descent and landing, 5:30 p.m. However, data for analysis will not be ready until several hours later.
-- Post-landing poll of subsystem teams about spacecraft status, 5:30 p.m.
-- Mars Odyssey "bent-pipe" relay of transmission from Phoenix, with engineering data and possibly including first images, 6:43 to 7:02 p.m. Data could take up to about 30 additional minutes in pipeline before being accessible. If all goes well, live television feed from control room may show first images as they are received. The first images to be taken after landing will be of solar arrays, to check deployment status.
-- News briefing, 9 p.m.

Monday, May 26
-- News briefing, 11 a.m.

Tuesday, May 27, through Friday, May 30
Daily news briefings at 11 a.m.

Anticipated pace of Mars surface operations
-- If operations proceed relatively smoothly, the first eight to 10 days after landing will be a "characterization phase" of checking out and understanding the performance of the spacecraft's power and thermal systems, as well as the robotic arm and other instruments.
-- At the end of the characterization phase (date tba), the first sample of surface soil will be delivered to the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer onboard Phoenix.
-- Analysis of soil from the surface in both the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer and in the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer will likely take 10 to 15 days if all processes go well. After that, each additional sampling cycle will reach a deeper subsurface level, in increments of about two to three centimeters. At each different layer, collecting and analyzing samples is expected to take 10 to 15 days, barring operational difficulties.
-- How soon the digging reaches the expected icy layer will depend on how far below the surface that layer lies. Estimates in advance of landing range from two to five centimeters. If the ice is at the deeper end of that range, the first analysis of an icy sample could be in July or later.

Determine whether Life ever arose on Mars

Sarebbe un evento epocale

gli elementi necessari alla formazione della vita

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix/relea...?ArticleID=1736

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Checking Soil Properties
June 07, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The arm of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander released a handful of clumpy Martian soil onto a screened opening of a laboratory instrument on the spacecraft Friday, but the instrument did not confirm that any of the sample passed through the screen.

Engineers and scientists on the Phoenix team assembled at the University of Arizona are determining the best approach to get some of that material into the instrument. Meanwhile, the team has developed commands for the spacecraft to use cameras and the Robotic Arm on Saturday to study how strongly the soil from the top layer of the surface clings together into clumps.

Images taken Friday show soil resting on the screen over an open sample-delivery door of Phoenix's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA, an instrument for identifying some key ingredients. The screen is designed to let through particles up to one-millimeter (0.04 inch) across while keeping out larger particles, in order to prevent clogging a funnel pathway to a tiny oven inside. An infrared beam crossing the pathway checks whether particles are entering the instrument and breaking the beam.

The researchers have not yet determined why none of the sample appears to have gotten past the screen, but they have begun proposing possibilities.

"I think it's the cloddiness of the soil and not having enough fine granular material," said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, the Phoenix team's science lead for Saturday and digging czar for the mission.

"In the future, we may prepare the soil by pushing down on the surface with the arm before scooping up the material to break it up, then sprinkle a smaller amount over the door," he said.

Another strategy under consideration is to use mechanical shakers inside the TEGA instrument differently than the five minutes of shaking that was part of the sample-receiving process on Friday. No activities for the instrument are planned for Saturday, while the team refines plans for diagnostic tests.

Phoenix's planned activities for Saturday include horizontally extending a trench where the lander dug two practice scoops earlier this week, and taking additional images of a small pile of soil that was scooped up and dropped onto the surface during the second of those practice digs.

"We are hoping to learn more about the soil's physical properties at this site," Arvidson said. "It may be more cohesive than what we have seen at earlier Mars landing sites."

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For more about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

Ari, ti spiace dare un'occhiata a questa roba qui:

http://xenotechresearch.com/phmove1.htm

e dirmi che ne pensi?

Ari, ti spiace dare un'occhiata a questa roba qui:

http://xenotechresearch.com/phmove1.htm

e dirmi che ne pensi?

Io intanto dico la mia.
Punto primo, l'inquadratura e' leggermente differente, dato che il punto di presa e' spostato
Punto secondo, mi sembra tanto un "accidente" come un riflesso.

se su Marte va sempre tutto male, o quasi, allora c'è vita!

Il che mi spinge a considerare che le missioni Apollo si avvalevano dei migliori computer mai progettati: il cervello umano !
;-)

[IMG]
Metal Spring near Phoenix Footpad
2008-06-09

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/phoenix/col...16-387.jpg[/IMG]

This image, acquired by the Robotic Arm Camera on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, shows a spring on the ground under the lander near a footpad. This spring was released from the lander when the biobarrier was opened to free the Robotic Arm. This image was taken on the sixth Martian day of the mission (May 30, 2008).

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck InstitutE
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix/images.php?fileID=13290