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Phoenix team hopes to extend mission |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 24 July 2008
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 With a price tag of $420 million, NASA’s Phoenix lander has just thirty days until its original 90-day mission ends on August 23. Mission controllers have submitted a request for an extension of up to 30 days for Phoenix so that the lander can continue to study Mars’ arctic soil. Thirty days, however, is just about all the more that the mission could get, as the Martian winter is on its way. Phoenix landed above Mars’ Arctic Circle, so once the winter begins the sun will dip below the horizon for several weeks. With no sun, Phoenix will not be able to power itself with its solar arrays.
Even though Phoenix has limited scientific experiment facilities, the lander will be able to function as a weather station until the sun sets. Phoenix is equipped with a stereo imaging camera, lidar, and other meteorological instruments that will allow it to give a unique picture of the impending Martian winter from the surface. If the ovens and wet chemistry labs are expended, the Phoenix team will likely continue to dig into the Martian soil and rock-hard ice underneath as long as energy supplies permit.
Phoenix, like the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, has been performing up to and beyond expectations and could easily function beyond the 90 day timeframe. The rovers also had an original mission of 90 days when they landed in 2003 - both are still operating more than four years later. Phoenix will not likely be so lucky once winter strikes.
During the winter, Mars’ atmosphere becomes so cold that carbon dioxide literally snows from the atmosphere, just as water does on Earth during the winter. In the vicinity of Phoenix, scientists are anticipating a blanket of 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) of CO2 snow. Combined with temperatures dropping down to -140° C (-225° F), Phoenix is not expected to be functional when the spring comes in early 2009.
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