|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Phoenix successfully lands on Mars |
|
|
|
Written by Derek Kessler on
Sunday, 25 May 2008
|
|
|
|
 422 million miles and eight and a half months after launch, it all came down to what mission controls described as “seven minutes of terror.” For the first time in 32 years, a soft rocket-assisted landing was carried out on Mars, this time by NASA’s water ice-seeking Phoenix lander. After a fiery entry into the Martian atmosphere and a parachute assist, the Phoenix lander gracefully touched down in Mars’ arctic north, sending a confirmation signal that was received on Earth at 7:53 PM EDT.
Phoenix was the first rocket-landing since Viking 2 in 1976. All Mars landers since then have used airbags to cushion a hard landing, as was done with the rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
It took fifteen minutes for the signal from Phoenix to reach mission control on Earth. The signal was relayed via NASA’ Mars Odyssey orbiter; all subsequent Phoenix communications will be relayed through Mars Odyssey and two other orbiting satellites and then on to Earth. Depending on the position of Earth and Mars in their respective orbits, it can take anywhere from five to twenty one minutes for a signal to travel at the speed of light between the two planets. Once operations get underway with Phoenix, mission control will have to on average wait half an hour for confirmation that the orders transmitted were received and processed.
Phoenix landed in a 48-km wide valley named “Green Valley” by mission controllers. Planetary astronomers believe that the landing area, located at approximately 68° north latitude, has water ice from a few centimeters to up to half a meter below the surface. Phoenix will use its 2.4 meter robotic arm to dig into the Martian soil. Samples dug up will be processed by a mass spectrometer and put into wet chemistry laboratories to determine the exact chemical composition. Mission control of Phoenix will be handed over to the University of Arizona, which is working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to operate the lander.
Two hours after landing, NASA received confirmation that both of Phoenix’s solar arrays had unfurled and were generating power. The vertical masts holding the meteorological station (the first deployed on Mars) and the stereo imaging camera also deployed without issue. Phoenix mission control hopes to use the pictures sent back from the stereo camera to ascertain the lander’s position, as a previously discovered software glitch prevented them from using the descent camera.
With the camera masts deployed, Phoenix transmitted back the first pictures from the surface of Mars' northern arctic reaches. The images below were beamed back and distributed immediately (and without processing) by the JPL. The top image shows the view out across Green Valley, which is considerably rockier than the equatorial regions where the Mars Exploration rovers landed. The bottom two are one of Phoenix's unfurled solar arrays (left) and a landing pad on the Martian surface.
Phoenix will not deploy its robotic arm for at least two more days. The initial mission duration for Phoenix is set for 90 days, if all goes well during that time period it will more than likely be extended.
View: More images from Phoenix
Discuss: TrekUnited Forum
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
