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

From: Pete Shugar <pshugar_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:21:00 -0500
Message-ID: <000501c8d020$cadfbad0$0201a8c0_at_laptop>

I agree that we have learned tons more than what we did know.
What I am wondering is if the lander can move to new locations or
will it be only at this one location. Otherwise we will learn a lot
about a very small patch of Mars. I think the other 2 rovers will provide
more science due to examining many places instead of just the one small
patch of Mars that will checked. I agree it will be very a intensive
in depth look at a small spot.
It may sound as an aggressive criticism for your taste, but that is a
truth.
If the Lander could move to new locations and dump it's ovens for
use in new experiments we would have generated a larger amount of
science.
Maybe it's just that I'm not as up on this probe as I am on the other two.
Pete

----- Original Message -----
From: <mexicodoug at aim.com>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 7:30 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample,Arm Digs
Deeper


> "I guess that means only 8 experiments and then it becomes a high dollar
> garbage can.."
>
> Pete, "only?" "high dollar garbage can?"?? That sounds a bit too
> aggressive of a criticism for my taste in light of the historic
> accomplishments in progress on the frigid Polar surface of Mars.
>
> Have you ever cleaned out an oven? Decontaminated it without having any
> water or liquids? I guess NASA preferred not to wrap the baked goods in
> aluminum baggies and not make the Mars under the lander a garbage heap of
> disposable crap and contaminating solvents. I'm not critical of that.
>
> I don't what you are thinking, but 8 oven cycles sounds like 8 times
> infinity more quality oven time than "we" had before.
>
> Best wishes,
> Doug
> PS Speaking about learning to clean out the oven, I recommend to you the
> comedy movie, "A Day without a Mexican", and think Mars instead of
> California :) If that is too testy, how 'bout "To Build a Fire" by Jack
> London?
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pete Shugar <pshugar at clearwire.net>
> To: Mike Bandli <fuzzfoot at comcast.net>; 'Ron Baalke'
> <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>; 'Meteorite Mailing List'
> <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 6:26 pm
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs
> Deeper
>
>
> 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
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Received on Mon 16 Jun 2008 10:21:00 PM PDT