July 29, 2008
Motivation, it's a funny thing
How long has it been since I posted an update? So long, I'm actually scared to look. And I don't really have an excuse. I certainly haven't been too busy.
Not that the mission isn't doing great things. But there just hasn't been much testing. An occasional SoftSim run, some targeting with the RA in preparation for a delivery, and that's about it. But it seems the more time I have, the less I actually do.
But what has Phoenix been up to lately. We've been trying like the dickens to get an ice sample into TEGA. Having worked around some operational problems with TEGA itself, we finally attempted a sample acquisition/delivery late last week. We got the sample, but it froze to the back of scoop! So we tired again the other day, and guess what, it stuck to the back of the scoop again!
I'll let you know when we figure out how to get a sample into a science instrument.
June 12, 2008
Ups and downs
Landing was a huge success. The first pictures from Mars were amazing! And they continue to be so. We've seen Mars as no one before, landing in the Martian Arctic for the first time. We've seen Mars at the microscopic level, for the first time ever. And we've had a few, shall I say, surprises. Apparently a spring from the bio barrier bag popped off during deployment and landed by one of the footpads. No big deal, but a big surprise. Then TEGA had some major problems; they discovered a short circuit that was bad. But the team came up with some work arounds, and things proceeding just fine. Then the RAC took a picture underneath the lander, and found something that could be ice excavated by the descent thrusters! I'll keep you appraised as determinations come in. And most recently, the dirt delivered to TEGA was a bit clumpy and we've had a tough time getting dirt through the screen and into the oven. We were doing some major testing on that here in the PIT. But finally, we got Oven Full confirmation. Science begins today. Ups and downs, as we expect, but a huge success. I can't wait to see what surprises we get next.
May 27, 2008
Landing!
This shows a color image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera. It shows the Phoenix lander with its solar panels deployed on the Mars surface.
The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. -Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
People kept asking me if I was nervous or anxious. It finally hit me at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, 2 hours prior to landing. By the time I got to the Science Operations Center for the BBQ and landing festivities, a few hundred people were already there. I had several family members and friends there myself. It was crazy in there, with reporters mission personnel, and friends and family. Finally, the first signals started coming in shortly after 4:30.
Atmosphere entry: Cheers!
Parachute deploy: Cheers!
Radar ground lock: Cheers!!
Free fall and thruster start: Big Cheers!
250meters, 150meters, 100meters, 80meters, 70, 60, 50, 40 meters, 27 meters.
Everyone is on pins and needles. 10 meters.
And then it comes, "Touchdown confirmation!" and the room pauses.
Everyone is waiting, "is it ok to cheer now?". And then the room erupts.
Cheers and tears, smiles and hugs. We are on Mars!! A 422-million mile, 10-month journey through the vacuum of space, years of assembly and testing and we made it. And the navigation team made it look easy. But to put the difficulty into perspective, the journey required an accuracy of 1 part in 10 million, said one NASA official.
And now the work begins.
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