[meteorite-list] NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Works Through the Night

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:34:00 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200807220034.RAA22190_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix/release.php?ArticleID=1796

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Works Through the Night
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
July 21, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. -- To coordinate with observations made by an orbiter
flying repeatedly overhead, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is working a
schedule Monday that includes staying awake all night for the first time.

Phoenix is using its weather station, stereo camera and conductivity
probe to monitor changes in the lower atmosphere and ground surface at
the same time NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter studies the atmosphere
and ground from above.

The lander's fork-like thermal and conductivity probe was inserted into
the soil Sunday for more than 24 hours of measurements coordinated with
the atmosphere observations. One goal is to watch for time-of-day
changes such as whether some water alters from ice phase to vapor phase
and enters the atmosphere from the soil.

"We are looking for patterns of movement and phase change," said Michael
Hecht, lead scientist for Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and
Conductivity Analyzer, which includes the conductivity probe. "The probe
is working great. We see some changes in soil electrical properties,
which may be related to water, but we're still chewing on the data."

The extended work shift for the lander began Sunday afternoon Pacific
Time. In Mars time at the landing site, it lasts from the morning of
Phoenix's 55th Martian day, or sol, to the afternoon of its 56th sol.

The Phoenix team's plans for Sol 56 also include commanding the lander
to conduct additional testing of the techniques for collecting a sample
of icy soil. When the team is confident about the collecting method, it
plans to use Phoenix's robotic arm to deliver an icy sample to an oven
of the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA).

The TEGA instrument successfully opened both doors Saturday for the oven
chosen to get the first icy sample. Images from the Surface Stereo
Camera confirmed that the doors are wide open.

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of 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; 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.

Media contacts: Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond at lpl.arizona.edu

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov
Received on Mon 21 Jul 2008 08:34:00 PM PDT