[meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs Deeper

[Pete Shugar]

(Quote) Born from the ashes it may be, but Phoenix will die in the cold.

> It's going into summer in the Martian Arctic; the mission lifetime is

> about 150 days. Phoenix won't survive winter.(end quote)


When all is said and done, it's still an expensive trash can.
I just hope that enough is learned to make it worth the trip.
Pete
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu>
To: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
Cc: "Pete Shugar" <pshugar at clearwire.net>; 
<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>; <mexicodoug at aim.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 5:37 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs 
Deeper



> Hello Sterling:

>

> I think that it was a software failure that doomed Mars Polar Lander:

>

> When the spacecraft sensed that the vehicle had landed, then the engines

> were to cut off. This was done by noting that the landing legs flexed

> (sprung back as a shock absorber) as the ship touched down.

>

> However, as it turned out, when the legs were deployed, having springs,

> guess what, they sprung back a little. The engines sensed this as "we are

> on the ground" and not "oh, the legs just deployed," and so the engines

> turned off at 40 meters altitude, making the landing not so soft.

>

> Larry

>

> On Tue, June 17, 2008 11:51 pm, Sterling K. Webb wrote:

>> Hi, Pete, List,

>>

>>

>> This mission was named Phoenix in recognition

>> of the fact that like the mythical Phoenix, it rose from the ashes of the

>> dead! Once upon a time, there were two Mars missions that died: the 2001

>> Mars Surveyor

>> lander was cancelled in 2000, and the Mars Polar Lander was lost on Mars 

>> in

>> 1999.

>>

>>

>> Demonstrating the inscrutable wisdom that politicians,

>> beaurocrats, and authorities often possess that we lowly groundlings 

>> lack,

>> the 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander was canceled after it was already built and

>> paid for. (Anybody remember the Superconducting Super Collider?)

>>

>> At any rate, the 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander had been

>> kept in storage at Lockheed Martin clean room in Sunnyvale. And there 

>> were

>> extra "stay-at-home" duplicates of some instruments for the Polar Lander,

>> and there was a bit here and there, and there were projects without a

>> vehicle or hope of getting another one...

>>

>> Upshot: for a lousy $386 million, which includes the launch

>> and all tips for room service, You The Taxpayer get a whole new Mars

>> Mission.  Quit whining.  For comparison, we spend

>> $343 million each and every day in Iraq doing whatever it is

>> that we're doing there.

>>

>> Actually, I lied. Phoenix needed an extra $31 million beyond

>> the budget of $386 million and was almost cancelled over it. The 

>> altimeter

>> was from the Mars Polar Lander (you know, the one that crashed). It seems

>> that, hmm... a faulty altimeter may have been to blame for that.

>>

>> It's taken from the one used in F-16 fighter planes. Some

>> software problems on the F-16 altimeter were fixed, but the altimeter for

>> Phoenix did not get the software upgrade. They

>> spent about six months fixing the gizmo, driving up costs. And, hey! It

>> worked, didn't it?

>>

>> Additionally, they had to pay for searching for a boulder-free

>> landing spot, using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which, yes, charges 

>> for

>> its services, even to other missions, because every spot they picked had

>> boulders. There's a helluva lot of boulders on Mars...

>>

>> <quote>  The partnership developing the Phoenix mission

>> includes: the University of Arizona, NASA's Jet Propulsion

>> Laboratory, Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver and

>> the Canadian Space Agency, which is providing weather instruments. Peter 

>> H.

>> Smith of the University of Arizona, Lunar

>> and Planetary Laboratory heads the Phoenix mission. <unquote>

>>

>> Thanks.

>>

>>

>> Born from the ashes it may be, but Phoenix will die in the cold.

>> It's going into summer in the Martian Arctic; the mission lifetime is

>> about 150 days. Phoenix won't survive winter.

>>

>> I also notice news people describing the Phoenix as having

>> landed at Mars's "North Pole," even people on this List. If you were 

>> aliens

>> going to land on Earth, would you land on the dead center of Antarctica?

>> Why?

>>

>>

>> Phoenix is on the southern edge of the "Boreal Vastness"

>> (translating from the Latin name); it is above the Martian Arctic

>> Circle, barely (68.35 deg North). For a location comparison

>> by latitude, think of landing in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The

>> "Boreal Vastness" is a flat featureless low-lying

>> that covers about the upper third of Mars; many think it is an ancient 

>> sea

>> bed.

>>

>> Your criticisms might be to the point if we belonged to a

>> species and lived in a culture that made rational and intelligent 

>> long-term

>> plans to do the things that are truly essential and important to them.

>>

>> If you know of such a place, let me know.

>>

>>

>> I sincerely hope you can convince somebody to land a

>> multi-ton rompin' rover with nuclear eight-wheel drive, power take-off

>> drills on both ends, linear laboratory analysis machines with continuous

>> pass-through of Martian samples and 18 experiments online in each one

>> (let's have four of'em) and

>> a sample return rocket that sends 100 kg of Martian samples up to Martian

>> orbit to be returned to Earth.

>>

>> Let's have two, if you're in the mood...

>>

>>

>>

>> Sterling K. Webb

>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

>>

>