Phoenix Mars Mission News Feed

Phoenix Site on Mars May Be in Dry Climate Cycle Phase

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 MST

The Martian arctic soil that NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander dug into this year is very cold and very dry. However, when long-term climate cycles make the site warmer, the soil may get moist enough to modify the chemistry, producing effects that persist through the colder times.

Phoenix found clues increasing scientists' confidence in predictive models about water vapor moving through the soil between the atmosphere and subsurface water-ice. The models predict the vapor flow can wet the soil when the tilt of Mars' axis, the obliquity, is greater than it is now.

The robot worked on Mars for three months of prime mission, plus two months of overtime, after landing on May 25. The Phoenix science team will be analyzing data and running comparison experiments for months to come. With some key questions still open, team members at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union today reported on their progress.

Snow On Mars!

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 MST

by Peter Smith

Last month, the Phoenix Mars Lander sent its final signal after working for 151 Martian days photographing, digging and testing samples in the arctic there. During those days, its findings reshaped what we know about Mars, the prospects of future space exploration and our approach to undertaking that mission. All reports provide reason for optimism about the scientific advances of the United States and the world, as well as excitement about the future for those of us involved in this landmark NASA mission.

For the first time, we touched water ice on Mars. We excavated it, examined its depth and studied how it changes over the surface. We found that Martian soil is alkaline (like that of Earth's dry climates) and contains carbonates and clays. In addition, nutrients and chemical energy sources that fuel microbes on the Earth are available in Martian soil. We now know that liquid water has been a part of this soil, and further review of our data will enable us to determine whether this can be considered a habitable zone on Mars where microbial communities could live in warmer periods and survive the colder times in a dormant state.

NASA Finishes Listening For Phoenix Mars Lander

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 MST

-- After nearly a month of daily checks to determine whether Martian NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander would be able to communicate again, the agency has stopped using its Mars orbiters to hail the lander and listen for its beep.

As expected, reduced daily sunshine eventually left the solar-powered Phoenix craft without enough energy to keep its batteries charged.

The final communication from Phoenix remains a brief signal received via NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter on Nov. 2. The Phoenix lander operated for two overtime months after achieving its science goals during its original three-month mission. It landed on a Martian arctic plain on May 25.

NASA Mars Lander Receives Award From Magazine

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 MST

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has won recognition from Popular Science magazine as an innovation worthy of the publication's "Best of What's New" Grand Award in the aviation and space category.

The lander finished its work on Mars this month, and its team of scientists continues to analyze information that Phoenix sent home during more than five months of operating at a landing site in the Martian arctic. It landed on May 25, 2008.

The lander's robotic arm delivered soil samples to onboard laboratory instruments that analyzed the composition and examined particles microscopically.

UA Wins Governor's Award For Innovation For Phoenix Mars Mission

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 MST

-- The University of Arizona won the Governor's Innovator of the Year Award in the academia category for leading NASA's Phoenix Mars Mission.

"We had our fingers crossed, and butterflies in our stomachs, and were overjoyed when we were selected," said Peter Smith of the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Phoenix Mission principal investigator. Smith accepted the prize at the Governor's Celebration of Innovation Awards gala held last night in Phoenix.

"It was my joy as project leader to collect the award, but this prize is a testimony to fine work by the whole team," he added. "It's been a great mission."

Phoenix – A Tribute

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:00 MST

A video tribute to the phoenix mission.

Mars Phoenix Lander Finishes Successful Work On Red Planet

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 MST

-- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has ceased communications after operating for more than five months. As anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot's arctic landing site is not providing enough sunlight for the solar arrays to collect the power necessary to charge batteries that operate the lander's instruments.

Mission engineers last received a signal from the lander on Nov. 2. Phoenix, in addition to shorter daylight, has encountered a dustier sky, more clouds and colder temperatures as the northern Mars summer approaches autumn. The mission exceeded its planned operational life of three months to conduct and return science data.

The project team will be listening carefully during the next few weeks to hear if Phoenix revives and phones home. However, engineers now believe that is unlikely because of the worsening weather conditions on Mars. While the spacecraft's work has ended, the analysis of data from the instruments is in its earliest stages.

NASA Hearing Daily From Weak Phoenix Mars Lander

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 MST

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has communicated with controllers daily since Oct. 30 through relays to Mars orbiters. Information received over the weekend indicates Phoenix is running out of power each afternoon or evening but reawakening after its solar arrays catch morning sunlight.

The fraction of each day with sun above the horizon is declining at the Martian arctic landing site. Dust raised by a storm last week continues to block some of the sunshine.

"This is exactly the scenario we expected for the mission's final phase, though the dust storm brought it a couple weeks sooner than we had hoped," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We will be trying to gain some additional science during however many days we have left. Any day could be our last."

Recovery Efforts Continue with NASA Mars Lander

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 MST

UPDATE at 4 p.m. PDT October 30: Phoenix communicated with NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter Thursday. The communication reinforced a diagnosis that the spacecraft is in a precautionary mode triggered by low energy. Mission engineers are assessing the lander's condition and steps necessary for returning to science operations.

NASA'S Phoenix Mars Lander, with its solar-electric power shrinking due to shorter daylight hours and a dust storm, did not respond to an orbiter's attempt to communicate with it Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Mission controllers judge the most likely situation to be that declining power has triggered a pre-set precautionary behavior of waking up for only about two hours per day to listen for an orbiter's hailing signal. If that is the case, the wake-sleep cycling would have begun at an unknown time when batteries became depleted.

Weather Hampers Phoenix on Mars

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 MST

NASA'S Phoenix Mars Lander entered safe mode late yesterday in response to a low-power fault brought on by deteriorating weather conditions. While engineers anticipated that a fault could occur due to the diminishing power supply, the lander also unexpectedly switched to the "B" side of its redundant electronics and shut down one of its two batteries.

During safe mode, the lander stops non-critical activities and awaits further instructions from the mission team. Within hours of receiving information of the safing event, mission engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and at Lockheed Martin in Denver, were able to send commands to restart battery charging. It is not likely that any energy was lost.

Weather conditions at the landing site in the north polar region of Mars have deteriorated in recent days, with overnight temperatures falling to -141F (-96C), and daytime temperatures only as high as -50F (-45C), the lowest temperatures experienced so far in the mission. A mild dust storm blowing through the area, along with water-ice clouds, further complicated the situation by reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the lander's solar arrays, thereby reducing the amount of power it could generate. Low temperatures caused the lander's battery heaters to turn on Tuesday for the first time, creating another drain on precious power supplies.

NASA's Phoenix Mission Faces Survival Challenges

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 MST

-- In a race against time and the elements, engineers with NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander mission hope to extend the lander’s survival by gradually shutting down some of its instruments and heaters, starting today.

Originally scheduled to last 90 days, Phoenix has completed a fifth month of exploration in the Martian arctic. As expected, with the Martian northern hemisphere shifting from summer to fall, the lander is generating less power due to shorter days and fewer hours of sunlight reaching its solar panels. At the same time, the spacecraft requires more power to run several survival heaters that allow it to operate even as temperatures decline.

“If we did nothing, it wouldn’t be long before the power needed to operate the spacecraft would exceed the amount of power it generates on a daily basis,” said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “By turning off some heaters and instruments, we can extend the life of the lander by several weeks and still conduct some science.”

Phoenix Mars Mission Wins National Space Club Award

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 MST

-- NASA's Phoenix Mars Mission, led by The University of Arizona, has won the 2008 Wernher von Braun Astronautics Engineer Award.

Barry Goldstein of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory accepted the award on behalf of the Phoenix team at the 20th annual von Braun Memorial Celebration held last night at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center's Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville, Ala.

The event honors the memory of von Braun, one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration from the 1930s to the 1970s. The Huntsville chapter of the National Space Club, which sponsors the ceremony, presents awards to recognize individuals and groups who have made significant contributions to space exploration or to America's leadership in rocketry and astronautics.

Phoenix Lander Finishes Soil Delivery To Onboard Labs

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 MST

-- NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has finished scooping soil samples to deliver to its onboard laboratories, and is now preparing to analyze samples already obtained. Scientists are anxious to analyze the samples as the power Phoenix generates continues to drop. The amount of sunlight is waning on Mars’ northern plains as late-summer turns to fall.

The spacecraft’s robotic arm is digging into the lower portion of the “Upper Cupboard” and “Stone Soup” areas of the Phoenix worksite. Its Surface Stereoscopic Imager is taking photos of this trenching so scientists can better map out the geology of the Red Planet’s ice table.

“We’re basically trying to understand the depth and extent of the ice table to tie together how geology and climate control its formation,” said Phoenix mission scientist Diana Blaney of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Phoenix Gets Bonus Soil Sample

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 MST

The Mars Phoenix Lander's robotic arm successfully delivered soil into oven six of the lander’s thermal and evolved-gas analyzer (TEGA) on Monday, Oct. 13, or Martian day (sol) 137 of the mission.

The delivery to oven six is a “bonus round” for Phoenix, as the mission goal requirement of filling and analyzing soil in at least three of the ovens has already been satisfied. Six of eight ovens have been used to date.

TEGA’s tiny ovens heat the soil to as high as 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius). The lab’s “nose,” or mass spectrometer, then “smells” and analyzes the gases derived from heating the soil. Mission scientists will continue to research and analyze the soil samples in the coming months, long after Phoenix stops operating on the surface.

Phoenix Mars Mission Honored By Popular Mechanics

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 MST

NASA's Phoenix Mars Mission is being honored with a Breakthrough Award by Popular Mechanics magazine today in New York City. In its fourth year, the awards recognize innovators who improve lives and expand possibilities in science, technology, engineering and exploration.

Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, principal investigator for Phoenix, is accepting the award on behalf of the Phoenix team. Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Ed Sedivy, the Phoenix program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, were also recognized for their mission leadership.

Now in the final weeks of an extended mission, the Phoenix lander has been studying the Martian arctic for evidence of past liquid wate, and habitability, and studying the current climate and atmosphere since landing on the Red Planet on May 25. Robotic laboratory instruments have "sniffed and tasted" the Martian soil and ice to analyze their chemical and mineral properties. More than 25,000 images from the surface of Mars have been returned by the lander's camera systems.