[meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs Deeper

From: Pete Shugar <pshugar_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:26:08 -0500
Message-ID: <000801c8d008$5e64a8b0$0201a8c0_at_laptop>

I guess that means only 8 experiments and then it becomes a high dollar
garbage can..
Pete


----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Bandli" <fuzzfoot at comcast.net>
To: "'Pete Shugar'" <pshugar at clearwire.net>; "'Ron Baalke'"
<baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>; "'Meteorite Mailing List'"
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 3:20 PM
Subject: RE: [meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample,Arm Digs
Deeper


> Hi Pete,
>
> Unfortunately, all eight of the ovens cannot be emptied or re-used for
> other
> tests. I believe I remember hearing it had something to do with saving
> weight on the craft.
>
> Best,
>
> Mike Bandli
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Pete
> Shugar
> Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 12:40 PM
> To: Ron Baalke; Meteorite Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample,Arm Digs
> Deeper
>
> My question is:
> If there are only 8 ovens on the Lander, what happens when they are
> all full? Is there a provision to dump the ovens and reuse them?
> Pete
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
> To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 12:54 PM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs
> Deeper
>
>
>>
>> http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-111b
>>
>> NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs Deeper
>> Jet Propulsion Laboratory
>> June 16, 2008
>>
>> TUCSON, Ariz. -- One of the ovens on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander
>> continued baking its first sample of Martian soil over the weekend,
>> while the Robotic Arm dug deeper into the soil to learn more about white
>> material first revealed on June 3.
>>
>> "The oven is working very well and living up to our expectations," said
>> Phoenix co-investigator Bill Boynton of the University of Arizona,
>> Tucson. Boynton leads the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA), or
>> oven instrument, for Phoenix.
>>
>> Phoenix has eight separate tiny ovens to bake and sniff the soil and
>> look for volatile ingredients, such as water. This baking is performed
>> at three different temperature ranges.
>>
>> On Sol 18 (June 12), the lander's Robotic Arm dug deeper into the two
>> trenches, informally called "Dodo" and "Goldilocks," where white
>> material was previously found. This created one large trench, now called
>> "Dodo-Goldilocks."
>>
>> "We have continued to excavate in the Dodo-Goldilocks trench to expose
>> more of the light-toned material, and we will monitor the site," said
>> Robotic Arm lead scientist Ray Arvidson of the University of Washington,
>> St. Louis. "If the material is ice, it should change with time. Frost
>> may form on it, or it could slowly sublimate." Sublimation is the
>> process where a solid changes directly into gas.
>>
>> The Dodo-Goldilocks trench is 22 centimeters wide (8.7 inches) and 35
>> centimeters long (13.8 inches). The trench is seven to eight centimeters
>> (2.7 to 3 inches) deep at its deepest. The deepest portion is closest to
>> the lander.
>>
>> The white material is located only at the shallowest part of the trench,
>> farthest from the lander, indicating that it is not continuous
>> throughout the excavated site. The trench might be exposing a ledge, or
>> only a portion of a slab, of the white material, according to scientists.
>>
>> The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith with project management at JPL
>> and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in 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.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Media contacts: Guy Webster 818-354-6278
>> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
>> guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov
>>
>> Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
>> NASA Headquarters, Washington
>> dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov
>>
>> Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
>> University of Arizona, Tucson
>> shammond at lpl.arizona.edu
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
>> Meteorite-list mailing list
>> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>>
> ______________________________________________
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
>
>
Received on Mon 16 Jun 2008 07:26:08 PM PDT