[meteorite-list] NASA's Phoenix Spacecraft Reports Good Health After Mars Landing

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 23:47:19 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200805260647.XAA15418_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-82

NASA's Phoenix Spacecraft Reports Good Health After Mars Landing
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
May 25, 2008

PASADENA, Calif. -- A NASA spacecraft today sent pictures showing itself
in good condition after making the first successful landing in a polar
region of Mars.

The images from NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander also provided a glimpse of
the flat valley floor expected to have water-rich permafrost within
reach of the lander's robotic arm. The landing ends a 422-million-mile
journey from Earth and begins a three-month mission that will use
instruments to taste and sniff the northern polar site's soil and ice.

"We see the lack of rocks that we expected, we see the polygons that we
saw from space, we don't see ice on the surface, but we think we will
see it beneath the surface. It looks great to me," said Peter Smith of
the University of Arizona, Tucson, principal investigator for the
Phoenix mission.

Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53:44 p.m.
Eastern Time) confirmed that the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its
difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. In the
intervening time, those signals crossed the distance from Mars to Earth
at the speed of light. The confirmation ignited cheers by mission team
members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Lockheed
Martin Space Systems, Denver; and the University of Arizona.

As planned, Phoenix stopped transmitting one minute after landing and
focused its limited battery power on opening its solar arrays, and other
critical activities. About two hours after touchdown, it sent more good
news. The first pictures confirmed that the solar arrays needed for the
mission's energy supply had unfolded properly, and masts for the stereo
camera and weather station had swung into vertical position.

"Seeing these images after a successful landing reaffirmed the thorough
work over the past five years by a great team," said Phoenix Project
Manager Barry Goldstein of JPL. A key milestone still ahead is the first
use of the lander's 7.7-foot-long robotic arm, not planned before Tuesday.

"Only five of our planet's 11 previous attempts to land on the Red
Planet have succeeded. In exploring the universe, we accept some risk in
exchange for the potential of great scientific rewards," said Ed Weiler,
NASA associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate,
Washington.

Phoenix carries science instruments to assess whether ice just below the
surface ever thaws and whether some chemical ingredients of life are
preserved in the icy soil. These are key questions in evaluating whether
the environment has ever been favorable for microbial life. Phoenix will
also study other aspects of the soil and atmosphere with instrument
capabilities never before used on Mars. Canada supplied the lander's
weather station.

Transmissions from Phoenix have reported results after a check of
several components and systems on the spacecraft. "Phoenix is an amazing
machine, and it was built and flown by an amazing team. Through the
entire entry, descent and landing phase, it performed flawlessly," said
Ed Sedivy, Phoenix program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Company. "The spacecraft stayed in contact with Earth during that
critical period, and we received a lot of data about its health and
performance. I'm happy to report it's in great shape."

Phoenix uses hardware from a spacecraft built for a 2001 launch that was
canceled in response to the loss of a similar Mars spacecraft during a
1999 landing attempt. Researchers who proposed the Phoenix mission in
2002 saw the unused spacecraft as a resource for pursuing a new science
opportunity. A few months earlier, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter
discovered that plentiful water ice lies just beneath the surface
throughout much of high-latitude Mars. NASA chose the Phoenix proposal
over 24 other proposals to become the first endeavor in the Mars Scout
program of competitively selected missions.

The signal confirming that Phoenix had survived touchdown and the
transmission of the first pictures were relayed via Mars Odyssey and
received on Earth at the Goldstone, Calif., antenna station of NASA's
Deep Space Network.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with
project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed
Martin. 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 .

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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
2008-81
Received on Mon 26 May 2008 02:47:19 AM PDT