Phoenix Lander’s Mars Panorama

Sur le même thème que "Phoenix Lander’s Mars Panorama"

Mars Phoenix Lander Protects Itself From Bad NASA Commands [Mars Phoenix Lander]

The Mars Phoenix Lander shut its robotic arm down over the weekend, refusing to follow NASA directions after "realizing" those actions would have damaged its wrist. NASA programmers had to send new code to bring the arm back to life, and are now augmenting the original code to try and get the task done. Seemingly pleased with the Phoenix's refusal to conform to The Man's rules, NASA representatives described the process as "pretty neat." I think this whole "machines thinking for themselves" thing is only neat until they decide all humans are off their collective asses, and leave them floating in space with no suit. [PC World via Slashdot] [lien] [EN]

Phoenix Lander Has Touched Martian Water For the First Time [Water On Mars]

NASA just announced that the Phoenix Lander has successfully scooped up a Martian water ice sample and placed it in its oven for scientific analysis. "Mars Odyssey discovered this ice six years ago, but we've now touched it and tasted it, which is something that hasn't been done before," said a scientist at today's press conference. The sample has been dubbed the "Wicked Witch" (because it's meeeelting, meeeelting—get it?) and it will continue to be analyzed over the course of the coming weeks as data trickles in. Exciting, exciting stuff from this very successful mission. More details and new hi-res surface images to follow. The team has also decided to extend the mission to the end of the fiscal year to September 30, to a full 126 martian Sols (was scheduled for 90 sols initially) at the cost of another $2 million. [lien] [EN]

The Mars Phoenix Lander Says Goodnight

The Mars Phoenix Lander has been guest blogging at Gizmodo. Today, it sent its last post. This final entry is one that I asked be posted after my mission team announces they’ve lost contact with me. Today is that day and I must say good-bye, but I do it in triumph and not in grief. As [...] [lien] [EN]

NASA Envisions Robot Future That's More Wall-E Than Phoenix Lander [Robots]

When the Mars Phoenix Lander touched down on the Martian soil, discovered water ice and microbe-friendly acidic alkaline soil last month, it was quite a feat—for a human-controlled robot. But what if the robots sent to distant worlds could think for themselves, a la Wall-E and his Apple-esque main squeeze, EVE? NASA's betting on it, and has actually already started work on a "tier-scalable reconnaissance" program that would see armies of small probes exploring the outer reaches of our solar system with minimal human intervention, if any at all. Of course, such self-sufficient robots wouldn't be as cute as Wall-E—they'd actually be large hivemind dirigibles controlling an army of autonomous planet-side probes (think: Rush Limbaugh's radio program)—but nevertheless, the possibility for intergalactic robot love stories has never been closer to reality. [lien] [EN]

Phoenix Lander Crew's Cubicles Designed to Fight Perpetual Martian Jet Lag [Godspeed, Zombie Scientists]

I've always tried to look at jet lag from a more recreational perspective (when else will I rise from sleep wide awake at 3:45 AM?), but what the scientists of the Mars Phoenix Lander mission have to go through makes a 19-hour direct flight to Singapore look like cupcakes. Since Martial Sols are longer than Earth days by 40 minutes, the staff's work schedule effectively skips two time zones every three days to stay on the spacecraft's own schedule. Multiply that over the course of the planned 92-day mission, and you've got some mightily out-of-wack Circadian rhythms on your hands. One way to preserve the Phoenix workers' sanity are the harsh blue LED-lit workstations you see here, which are on a wavelength that simulates daylight and fools the body into thinking everything's OK. [lien] [EN]

NASA Phoenix Lander Finds Water On Mars! [Mars Phoenix Lander]

The landing thrusters aboard the Phoenix Mars Lander apparently did their job and them some. First, they successfully fired and gently deposited the multimillion dollar probe on the surface of the Red Planet. And then, by doing just that, they blew away three to six inches of Martian soil to reveal the shiny, slick face of what could be a large ice patch. Brendan Fraser's frozen caveman body was noticeably absent from this block of ice, but NASA scientists were elated anyway. The discovery reaffirms that the landing was indeed a bull's eye, akin to the Opportunity rover "hole in one" crater touchdown more than four years ago. "It's the consensus of all of us that we have found ice," said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, which is leading the Phoenix project with help from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. [lien] [EN]

Phoenix Lander Watches Snow Falling on Mars [Mars Phoenix]

As the clock continues to tick for brave Phoenix so far away on Mars, the discoveries keep on rolling: this time, that snow falls on Mars. A laser instrument called for pulsing the atmosphere and observing what gets bounced back detected Martian flurries at altitudes of 4km in the clouds. The snow is vaporizing before hitting the ground, but the discovery lends some crucial insight into the Martian water cycle. As did another juicy finding dug up from the soil. The latest sample from the extended surface digs to hit Phoenix's Easybake detected the presence of calcium carbonate—a mineral found in chalk and clay that tends to only exist in soil after interactions with liquid water. Phoenix has already tasted water ice from its landing point on the North Pole. [lien] [EN]

Hello World, Phoenix Lander Here [Phoenix Mars Lander]

It's time for a heart-to-heart. While I've spent my entire mission talking to followers via Twitter, some things just can't be said in 140 characters or less. So I was thrilled when the editors of Gizmodo asked if I would contribute as a guest blogger, and even more thrilled when they said I could write more than two sentences at a time. One of the most common questions I'm asked, and one of the most difficult to explain, is whether I knew going in that this mission would cost me my life. The answer to that is yes, of course, and there's not a single robotic explorer in our solar system that doesn't know it faces the same fate. Unlike all of you, most of us can't go home again. Perhaps what troubles people most is that my mission will come to an end so soon. They want to know what it is the long. [lien] [EN]

Today is Phoenix Mars Lander Day [Phoenix Mars Lander]

As you digest hot dogs or tend to one of your geektastic Memorial Day grilling machines today, take a moment to consider NASA's Phoenix Lander, which is scheduled to touch down on Mars this evening. At about 8 p.m. EST, the multimillion dollar lander will enter the Red Planet's atmosphere and experience what CNN is calling "seven minutes of terror" (worry not, I checked the story and it has nothing to do with the Lander being in a closet with Paris Hilton). Then, during a maneuver that puts any earthbound supercar's brakes to shame, Phoenix will slow itself from approximately 13,000 miles per hour to about five in the space of six to seven minutes. Want to follow the probe's wild ride? There are a few sites covering the evening event live listed after the jump. [lien] [EN]

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Guest Blogging on Giz [Phoenix Mars Lander]

We'd like to introduce our newest guest blogger—the Phoenix Mars Lander. With a successful mission starting to wind down as a cold winter rapidly descends upon its landing site in the Martian arctic, we're pretty happy that Phoenix, (already a prolific Twitterer) has agreed to look back with us on its amazing life over the course of its final days on Mars. Here Phoenix starts with the very beginning of the story. We're pretty sure a spacecraft has never guest-edited a blog before. Enjoy. • Phoenix Mars Lander Looks Back on its Re-Birth Read More: Hello World, Phoenix Lander Here, Today is Phoenix Mars Lander Day [lien] [EN]

Mars Phoenix Will Bravely and Passionately Twitter Until the Final Beat of Its Adorable Electronic Heart [Goodnight Sweet Rover]

The Mars Phoenix Lander has been Twittering away its mission details since landing on Mars in May. But lately, you can see a sense of impending doom starting to creep in, slowly: "It's noon, Sol 81. I've spotted frost around my landing site in AM," tweeted Phoenix a few weeks ago. "Seasons are longer here...I'll be surrounded by ice & don't expect to survive til Spring," comes a few days later. But unlike other eerie autobiographical accounts of impending death, the wildly successful Mars Phoenix Lander has a trick up its sleeve for a potential reincarnation after the thaw. "But as I've said before, I'm programmed with a 'Lazarus mode' so I'll call up to the Mars orbiters if I re-awaken in the Spring," said Phoenix last week, probably in response to tearful return Tweets lamenting his/her/its grim disposition. [lien] [EN]

Mars Lander Can Move Arm Now, Probably Just Slept On It Wrong [Nevermind]

Putting rest to fears that the Phoenix Lander might be DOA, the lander wagged its robotic arm on Thursday. NASA was worried that a stuck piece of plastic casing could prohibit the 7.7 ft titanium appendage from extending, making it impossible for the Phoenix to carry out crucial drilling experiments. The primary goal of the mission is to drill a few inches into Martian soil, where scientists think they may find red "water-ice," known on earth as strawberry Slushee, which could provide compelling evidence that life once did (or one day could) exist there. Digging is expected to start soon, but for now there's plenty of terrain porn at the Phoenix official website [Phoenix via NY Times] -by John Herrman [lien] [EN]

RIP, Mars Phoenix Lander

Yesterday, NASA announced that the Mars Phoenix Lander has died. Okay, they said that the lander had “ceased communications” and that the lander had “finish[ed] successful work,” both of which are merely euphemisms for its tragic death after five months of lonely toil on Mars. The Mars Phoenix Lander’s death is not unexpected. It [...] [lien] [EN]

THE PHOENIX RISES

                                 NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander The National Aeronautics and Space Administration may have had to endure some justifiable criticism for its shortsighted and unimaginative manned space exploration program. But when it comes to its unmanned planetary exploration achievements, the scientists and engineers at JPL and their affiliate programs at universities and other space agencies around the world can still “Wow!” us all every once and awhile. The Phoenix Mars Lander successfully touched down in the north Polar region of Mars at 6:53 central time today as scientists and engineers at JPL and the University of Arizona cheered the culmination of ten years of enormously stressful work. The spacecraft landed after a harrowing re. [lien] [EN]

NASA sends “The Weather Rock” to Mars

When I made a post discussing the weather station on NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander titled “First Weather Station on the Surface of Mars“, I expressed some concern that there might be something wrong with the meteorological package due to the first photo of the MET mast showing something dangling: And I jokingly wrote: “Given that this mission was put together on a low budget, using parts previously designed for other spacecraft, it makes me wonder if the weather station we see above isn't simply this low tech device“. After further research, I’m forced to conclude that in fact, NASA did send a “weather rock” to Mars as part of the meteorological package! Yes I know, you still don’t believe me, so here are the technical details. The instrument is called the “Telltale Project” and it was developed by the Mars Simulation Laboratory at the University of Aarhus in Demark. [lien] [EN]

First Weather Station on the Surface of Mars

Of course we’ve all heard and seen the fantastic news of NASA’s Phoenix lander making a successful three point landing on the red planet. The primary goal of the Mars Phoenix Mission is to detect life or the traces of it. However a secondary goal is to measure the weather at the surface continuously over a long period of time. Today in a group of raw images returned from the lander is the first photo of the weather station mast after deployment. I’m pleased to present it here: On further inspection though I note that there appears to be something dangling from the top portion of the sensor apparatus, see the arrow: I don’t know if this is normal or if something has come loose and what we see is something dangling on the end of a wire. Given that this mission was put together on a low budget. [lien] [EN]

Moonstream Rover Could Finally Make Yuppies Happy On Mars [Suburban Sprawl]

The puny Phoenix lander might be dominating the news right now, but in a few (dozen) years, we might be enjoying the Red Planet from a much more suburban perspective. A young designer has adapted one of man's greatest achievements - the S.U.V. - to the Martian landscape. By scaling up the spidery walking legs of NASA's ATHLETE rovers, the massive Moonstream would be able to slowly but smoothly traverse Mars' uneven surfaces with a giant payload of people and hardware. galleryPost('moonstream', 3, ''); The Phoenix straining its wiry little arm to scrape some ice off the ground isn't a terribly impressive expression of NASA's billions, but the Moonstream looks forward to a time when the space program's spending will be a little more apparent. The pilot (or conductor, or driver. [lien] [EN]

Presidential Science Advisor Briefed On Potential For Mars Life

This in an interesting story from Aviation Week They say “the data relate to habitability” But it makes you wonder why they had to brief the Presidential Science Advisor on this. UPDATE: Apparently the science team has had no official response, but has been using a twitter account to downplay the story. We do indeed live in interesting times. - Anthony Aug 1, 2008  By Craig Covault The White House has been alerted by NASA about plans to make an announcement soon on major new Phoenix lander discoveries concerning the “potential for life” on Mars, scientists tell Aviation Week & Space Technology. Sources say the new data do not indicate the discovery of existing or past life on Mars. Rather the data relate to habitability–the “potential” for Mars to support life–at the Phoenix arctic landing site. [lien] [EN]

The Reports of Life on Mars are Greatly Exaggerated

A few days ago, Craig Covault wrote an article for Aviation Week claiming that the Mars Phoenix lander didn’t just find ice - it had discovered "potential for life" on Mars and that the White House was briefed about it: "They have discovered water on Mars for the third or fourth time," one senior Mars scientists [...] [lien] [EN]