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

From: Michael Murray <mmurray_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:33:51 -0600
Message-ID: <AC2F930E-B8A3-4BBC-8EF1-86E153F72254_at_montrose.net>

For a few years now about once a day or so, I have been poking my
nose in on the activity going on at www.unmannedspaceflight.com
following the rover missions and so on. There are some enlightened
folks on there, I have to tell you. I know I'm too stupid to chit-
chat with them but you might give it a go. I believe you will find
that there is a lot of enthusiasm on there about the Phoenix mission.

Mike in CO

On Jun 17, 2008, at 10:54 AM, Pete Shugar wrote:

> (Quote) Born from the ashes it may be, but Phoenix will die in the
> cold.
>> It's going into summer in the Martian Arctic; the mission lifetime is
>> about 150 days. Phoenix won't survive winter.(end quote)
>
> When all is said and done, it's still an expensive trash can.
> I just hope that enough is learned to make it worth the trip.
> Pete
> ----- Original Message ----- From: <lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu>
> To: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
> Cc: "Pete Shugar" <pshugar at clearwire.net>; <meteorite-
> list at meteoritecentral.com>; <mexicodoug at aim.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 5:37 AM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm
> Digs Deeper
>
>
>> Hello Sterling:
>>
>> I think that it was a software failure that doomed Mars Polar Lander:
>>
>> When the spacecraft sensed that the vehicle had landed, then the
>> engines
>> were to cut off. This was done by noting that the landing legs flexed
>> (sprung back as a shock absorber) as the ship touched down.
>>
>> However, as it turned out, when the legs were deployed, having
>> springs,
>> guess what, they sprung back a little. The engines sensed this as
>> "we are
>> on the ground" and not "oh, the legs just deployed," and so the
>> engines
>> turned off at 40 meters altitude, making the landing not so soft.
>>
>> Larry
>>
>> On Tue, June 17, 2008 11:51 pm, Sterling K. Webb wrote:
>>> Hi, Pete, List,
>>>
>>>
>>> This mission was named Phoenix in recognition
>>> of the fact that like the mythical Phoenix, it rose from the
>>> ashes of the
>>> dead! Once upon a time, there were two Mars missions that died:
>>> the 2001
>>> Mars Surveyor
>>> lander was cancelled in 2000, and the Mars Polar Lander was lost
>>> on Mars in
>>> 1999.
>>>
>>>
>>> Demonstrating the inscrutable wisdom that politicians,
>>> beaurocrats, and authorities often possess that we lowly
>>> groundlings lack,
>>> the 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander was canceled after it was already
>>> built and
>>> paid for. (Anybody remember the Superconducting Super Collider?)
>>>
>>> At any rate, the 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander had been
>>> kept in storage at Lockheed Martin clean room in Sunnyvale. And
>>> there were
>>> extra "stay-at-home" duplicates of some instruments for the Polar
>>> Lander,
>>> and there was a bit here and there, and there were projects
>>> without a
>>> vehicle or hope of getting another one...
>>>
>>> Upshot: for a lousy $386 million, which includes the launch
>>> and all tips for room service, You The Taxpayer get a whole new Mars
>>> Mission. Quit whining. For comparison, we spend
>>> $343 million each and every day in Iraq doing whatever it is
>>> that we're doing there.
>>>
>>> Actually, I lied. Phoenix needed an extra $31 million beyond
>>> the budget of $386 million and was almost cancelled over it. The
>>> altimeter
>>> was from the Mars Polar Lander (you know, the one that crashed).
>>> It seems
>>> that, hmm... a faulty altimeter may have been to blame for that.
>>>
>>> It's taken from the one used in F-16 fighter planes. Some
>>> software problems on the F-16 altimeter were fixed, but the
>>> altimeter for
>>> Phoenix did not get the software upgrade. They
>>> spent about six months fixing the gizmo, driving up costs. And,
>>> hey! It
>>> worked, didn't it?
>>>
>>> Additionally, they had to pay for searching for a boulder-free
>>> landing spot, using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which, yes,
>>> charges for
>>> its services, even to other missions, because every spot they
>>> picked had
>>> boulders. There's a helluva lot of boulders on Mars...
>>>
>>> <quote> The partnership developing the Phoenix mission
>>> includes: the University of Arizona, NASA's Jet Propulsion
>>> Laboratory, Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver and
>>> the Canadian Space Agency, which is providing weather
>>> instruments. Peter H.
>>> Smith of the University of Arizona, Lunar
>>> and Planetary Laboratory heads the Phoenix mission. <unquote>
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>>
>>> Born from the ashes it may be, but Phoenix will die in the cold.
>>> It's going into summer in the Martian Arctic; the mission
>>> lifetime is
>>> about 150 days. Phoenix won't survive winter.
>>>
>>> I also notice news people describing the Phoenix as having
>>> landed at Mars's "North Pole," even people on this List. If you
>>> were aliens
>>> going to land on Earth, would you land on the dead center of
>>> Antarctica?
>>> Why?
>>>
>>>
>>> Phoenix is on the southern edge of the "Boreal Vastness"
>>> (translating from the Latin name); it is above the Martian Arctic
>>> Circle, barely (68.35 deg North). For a location comparison
>>> by latitude, think of landing in the Northwest Territories of
>>> Canada. The
>>> "Boreal Vastness" is a flat featureless low-lying
>>> that covers about the upper third of Mars; many think it is an
>>> ancient sea
>>> bed.
>>>
>>> Your criticisms might be to the point if we belonged to a
>>> species and lived in a culture that made rational and intelligent
>>> long-term
>>> plans to do the things that are truly essential and important to
>>> them.
>>>
>>> If you know of such a place, let me know.
>>>
>>>
>>> I sincerely hope you can convince somebody to land a
>>> multi-ton rompin' rover with nuclear eight-wheel drive, power
>>> take-off
>>> drills on both ends, linear laboratory analysis machines with
>>> continuous
>>> pass-through of Martian samples and 18 experiments online in each
>>> one
>>> (let's have four of'em) and
>>> a sample return rocket that sends 100 kg of Martian samples up to
>>> Martian
>>> orbit to be returned to Earth.
>>>
>>> Let's have two, if you're in the mood...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Sterling K. Webb
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> ------
>>>
>
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Received on Wed 18 Jun 2008 08:33:51 PM PDT