Ian
priscilla 1Mars Phoenix Lander
June 4th 2008 12:44
Phoenix is a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program. The scientists conducting the mission will use instruments aboard the Phoenix lander to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars, and to research the history of water there. The multi-agency program is headed by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, under the direction of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Phoenix successfully landed in the Green Valley of Vastitas Borealis on May 25, 2008.
The mission has two goals. One is to study the geologic history of water, the key to unlocking the story of past climate change. The second is to search for evidence of a habitable zone that may exist in the ice-soil boundary, the "biological paydirt". Phoenix's instruments are suitable for uncovering information on the geological and possibly biological history of the Martian Arctic. Phoenix will be the first mission to return data from either of the poles, and will contribute to NASA's main strategy for Mars exploration, "Follow the water".
The primary mission is anticipated to last 90 sols (Martian days) – just over 92 Earth days. Researchers are hoping that the lander will survive into the Martian winter so that it can witness polar ice developing at the spacecraft's exploration area. As much as three feet of solid carbon dioxide ice could appear in the area. Even if it does survive partway into the winter, it is very unlikely that the lander will function throughout the entire winter due to the intense cold. The mission was chosen to be a fixed lander rather than a rover because:
1. costs were reduced through reuse of earlier equipment;
2. the area of Mars where Phoenix is landing is thought to be relatively uniform and thus traveling is of less value; and
3. the equipment weight that would be required to allow Phoenix to travel can instead be dedicated to more and better scientific instruments.
Image Source. Chicago Tribune.
*These pictures used with permission from Damn Funny Pictures.
**This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Phoenix (spacecraft).
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