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Maine to Mars Blog Index
August 29, 2007
Verification and Validation

This week I spent working on Robotic Arm (RA) Verification and Validation (VandV). Each instrument must meet certain requirements and each must be tested. This batch of tests involved showing the RA is capable of moving the Thermal and Electric Conductivity Probe (TECP), located at the end of the arm, in a smooth, straight line. This is to meet the requirement on precision in insertion and extraction of the probe into the ground, without damaging the probe leads. You can view a picture of the TECP, and the other instruments, on the Phoenix website.

The test involved moving the RA into four separate positions, close to the lander deck, high and low, and outstretched, high and low. We then set up a video camera and a plane background and recorded the motion as the RA was directed to move 10 or 20 centimeters. The video will be reviewed by JPL to determine if the motion is smooth enough.

Posted at 04:13 PM

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A native Mainer writes about his experiences as an engineer for the Phoenix Mars Mission, an effort to see if a robotic lander can find evidence that life once existed on Mars.

Robert Bovill was born at Maine Medical Center July 5, 1979. He graduated from Thornton Academy in 1998. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Maine in Orono, and then went to the University of Arizona for graduate school. He was employed full-time as a test engineer for this Phoenix Mars Mission a year and a half ago by the University of Arizona.



See a rendering of the Phoenix Mars lander during the final seconds of descent.

See the instruments on the Phoenix Mars lander.

Abbreviation Glossary
Testing  
FVT   Functional Verification Test
GDS   Ground Data System
OPUS Odyssey/Phoenix UHF System
ORT Operational Readiness Test/Training
PIT    Payload Inter-operability Testbed
PTL Payload Testbed Lab
PVV Payload Verification and Validation
   
Places  
JPL  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
LM  Lockheed-Martin
UA/LPL University of Arizona/Lunar and Planetary Lab
   
Events
EDL  Entry, Descent and Landing
   
Instruments
EM  Enginerring Model
FM Flight Model
ISAD Icy Sample Acquisition Device
MECA Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer
OM Optical Microscope
RA Robotic Arm
RAC Robotic Arm Camera
RASP Rapid Active Sampling Package
SSI    Surface Stereoscopic Imager
TECP   Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe
TEGA  Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer
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