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Wednesday, 28 May 2008

A few more Phoenix Pictures-there great

Mars Phoenix Landing area close to the Cold Polar Regions to carry out many experiments to understand the Martian Poles and the soil that is contained there, a scoop will gather the soil to analyze the consistency and make up of the Martian soil




Solar Panel Arrays have opened just how they should for the Sun and light to power up the batteries for the experiments to be carried out shortly




Mars Weather since the Craft Landed if you notice it is much too cold and unihabitle for Human Life unless they wear insulated heated suits -30c to -80c now thats cold, not quite the same pressure there as on Earth either


One of the landers legs and the Mars surface-looking good

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More Phoenix Landing Pictures

Mars Phoenix Lander Heat Shield and Parachute.....


Mars phoenix Lander


Mars Phoenix Lander and Heat Shield


GOOD CLEAR SKIES......
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Monday, 26 May 2008

Phoenix Makes a Grand Entrance.....

Phoenix Makes a Grand Entrance
05.26.08



NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander can be seen parachuting down to Mars, in this image captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This is the first time that a spacecraft has imaged the final descent of another spacecraft onto a planetary body.


From a distance of about 760 kilometers (472 miles) above the surface of the Red Planet, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed its HiRISE obliquely toward Phoenix shortly after it opened its parachute while descending through the Martian atmosphere. The image reveals an apparent 10-meter-wide (30-foot-wide) parachute fully inflated. The bright pixels below the parachute show a dangling Phoenix. The image faintly detects the chords attaching the backshell and parachute. The surroundings look dark, but corresponds to the fully illuminated Martian surface, which is much darker than the parachute and backshell.

Phoenix released its parachute at an altitude of about 12.6 kilometers (7.8 miles) and a velocity of 1.7 times the speed of sound.


The HiRISE, acquired this image on May 25, 2008, at 4:36 p.m. Pacific Time (7:36 p.m. Eastern Time). It is a highly oblique view of the Martian surface, 26 degrees above the horizon, or 64 degrees from the normal straight-down imaging of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The image has a scale of 0.76 meters per pixel.


This image has been brightened to show the patterned surface of Mars in the background.


NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.









NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.
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Sunday, 25 May 2008

Mars Phoenix Lander....

Try this site for a video of the Phoenix Mars Lander http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
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Friday, 23 May 2008

Phoenix Spacecraft on Course for May 25 Mars Landing

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278/5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

STATUS REPORT: 2008-079                       May 22, 2008

Phoenix Spacecraft on Course for May 25 Mars Landing

PASADENA, Calif. -- With three days and 3 million miles left to fly before arriving at
Mars, NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is on track for its destination in the Martian arctic.

"The latest calculation from our navigation team shows the center of the area where we're
currently headed lies less than eight miles from the center of our target area," said Barry
Goldstein, Phoenix project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
"We may decide on Saturday that we don't need to use our final opportunity for fine tuning
the trajectory Phoenix is on.  Either way, we will continue to monitor the trajectory
throughout Saturday night, on the off chance we need to execute our contingency
maneuver eight hours before entry."

The spacecraft is in fine health.

"All systems are nominal and stable," said Ed Sedivy, Phoenix spacecraft program
manager for Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, which built the spacecraft. "We
have plenty of propellant, the temperatures look good and the batteries are fully charged."

The spacecraft is closing in on the scariest seven minutes of the mission.

On Sunday, shortly after the annual 500-mile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,
Phoenix will be approaching Mars at about 12,750 miles per hour, a speed that could cover
500 miles in 2 minutes and 22 seconds. After it enters the top of the Martian atmosphere at
that velocity, it must use superheated friction with the atmosphere, a strong parachute and a
set of pulsing retrorockets to achieve a safe, three-legged standstill touchdown on the
surface in just seven minutes.

The earliest possible time when mission controllers could get confirmation from Phoenix
indicating it has survived landing will be at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday (7:53 p.m.
Eastern Time). Of 11 previous attempts that various nations have made to land spacecraft
on Mars, only five have succeeded.

Phoenix will land farther north on Mars than any previous mission, at a site expected to
have ice-rich permafrost beneath the surface, but within reach of the lander's robotic arm.

"Last instructions were given to the science team at our final meeting at the University of
Arizona Tuesday," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of
Arizona, Tucson. "This week, we are conducting our dress rehearsal before opening night
on Sunday." The science team is slowly adjusting to working on Mars time, in which each
day lasts 24.66 hours, in preparation for a demanding mission.

Smith said, "We are ready to robotically operate our science lab in the Martian arctic and
dig through the layers of history to the ice-rich soil below."

Phoenix is equipped to study the history of the water now frozen into the site's permafrost,
to check for carbon-containing chemicals that are essential ingredients for life, and to
monitor polar-region weather on Mars from a surface perspective for the first time.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project
management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin. International
contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel,
Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute,
Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For more about Phoenix, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu .

- end -
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Thursday, 22 May 2008

NASA - Phoenix Mission

NASA - Phoenix

Latest News

    Phoenix landing blog

    Today on the Phoenix Blog: Spacecraft Status, Questions Answered
    05.21.09 -- If you were hitching a ride on Phoenix, right now Mars would look about a third the size of the full moon viewed from Earth.
    Go to blog, post your comments

    Phoenix Mission Briefings
    May 22, 2:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. Pacific)
    May 24, 3:00 p.m. (12:00 p.m. Pacific)
    May 25, 3:00 p.m. (12:00 p.m. Pacific)
    May 25, NASA TV coverage begins 6:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. Pacific)
    May 25, Landing on Mars at approximately 7:53 p.m. (4:53 p.m. Pacific)
    › NASA TV on the Web
    › Schedule of landing events
    › Landing Press Kit (3Mb)

Latest Images

Mission News

Mission Management

    The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith at the University of Arizona, Tucson, with project management at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions are provided by the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Further information about Phoenix is online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/ .

Video Gallery

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