Slashdot Mirror
Mars Phoenix Lander Given The Go
stlhawkeye writes "The BBC is running an article which indicates that NASA has green-lit Phoenix, the next Mars mission. NASA also has some details on the mission, which is centered around locating water on the red planet. Originally planned as part of the 2001 Mars Surveyor mission, the lander would launch in 2007. Among the more interesting plans for the mission is a new type of camera to photograph the landing site just before touchdown, and a robotic arm to claw through three feet of soil. The lander would touchdown near the polar ice cap. The mission is characterized as the first 'scout' mission for possible manned landing in the future."
Panic swept through the community today as the Council of Elders confirmed the rumours that the sinister blue plane third from our star is preparing to send yet another of its mechanized invaders to ravage our peaceful world.
K'Breel, Speaker for the Council, stressed yet again that there was no cause for alarm:
When asked to comment upon an alleged image of the latest invader, circulated by a cabal of rogue scientists, K'Breel declined.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
To Firebird?
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
Why would Nasa want to land a probe in Phoenix?
Among the more interesting plans for the mission is a new type of camera to photograph the landing site just before touchdown. Color perhaps?
NASA administrator Paul Brown was quoted as saying "We've recently discovered a pervious mission with the name Phoenix, therefor we'll need to change the name to Firebird."
This was quickly followed up by another response "Actually we've found another mission with the name Firebird, so uhhh.... we're gonna settle with FireFox".
And a few moments later, "OK, fuckit, we're just gonna call it WammyJoMammy. Take that ya name hoggin bastards"
Originally part of the 2001 Mars Surveyor Program, the spacecraft that was built and tested to fly with the Mars Polar Lander mission was stored after the loss of the Surveyor. Renamed Phoenix, the craft is in preparation to finally take flight.
The damn thing was built and tested. This Phoenix is literally off the shelf.
I do wonder what elements of this design may have changed if say it had been designed in response to the recent lander successes we have had.
You've obviously never been to Houston in July. Phoenix is hot, but it's a dry heat.
But your post raises serious issues. Why is NASA, an arm of the US Government, sending out aggressive missions to US cities? It really almost sounds silly, and would be funny if it weren't such a serious concern.
I believe this is all a sham, and that the real mission will be, get this: to Mars. Call me crazy, but I think "Mars" isn't just a code name. In my theory, Phoenix is the code name!
Now, I know people are going to laugh and make jokes about tin hats, but it really makes you stop and think.
Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
When I was growing up, I expected us to have made a manned landing on Mars by now. I fear that NASA's bureauscoliocis has made that event ever-more unlikely under the current bureaucracy.
Crow T. Trollbot
Speaking from a design perspective, it's pretty much a decision between "moves" and "doesn't move". The speed at which it has to move (for these probes, anyway) isn't that much of an issue: the issue is the need to include the wheels, mechanisms for turning, mechanisms for obstacle avoidance, and other things that any movement ability would require.
All of these come with an increased possibility of failure, but more importantly increased weight.
The tradeoff here is using the weight saved by making the probe immobile to carry more scientific equipment.
This space intentionally left blank.
As though the current vehicles aren't? Opportunity has already moved 1.1 feet - and they've been taking their time (trying everything out on Earth before they do on Mars). There was little doubt on the part of the team that they'd be able to get out; this issue has been way overblown by the media and by Slashdot.
We should start dealing in those black-market beagles.
That's the southern pole, the northern pole has much higher concentration of water ice. The latest theory on the reason is that the closest thing mars has to a jet stream runs from the south to the north, which evaporates the water ice and re-deposits it on the northern pole.
/ mars_poles_020320.html
Here's the story:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem
I thought they said it would be prospecting for Oil, not Water ...
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Let this lander have a "tone" system for determining status during Entry Descent and Landing (EDL). These tones are simple radio signals (256 of them in total, if I recall) that sent out simple program and error states (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, 4G, Chute Deploy, Impact, etc), and also have the effect of sending back nice doppler data giving us an idea of where these landers are. They work nicely because it's an extremely basic analog signal that can be sent out even if you're wrapped up in airbags, falling at 5G with your heat shield on fire, or if you're tumbling end to end in a firey death.
;)
I'm almost at the point of saying that retro-rocket fired landers are less reliable than their airbag repelling cousins. The airbag method has worked 3 for 3 in the past 8 years. Retrorockets have failed on the single attempt. But I don't think this is a landing technology problem. Landing on the surface of another planet is risky in the best of circumstances (Just before MER-A/B EDL'd I personally gave each of them a 50/50 chance of landing), but if your software isn't perfect, you're screwed.
Regardless, these tone style systems are critical for learning from our mistakes. They make for great TV as well... Beats waiting around for 20 minutes biting your nails.
Do you ever get tired of posting variations of the same joke on every Mars-related story, and always getting modded to Score:5, Funny?
Sorry, dumb question, I know.
David Gould
main(i){putchar(340056100>>(i-1)*5&31|!!(i<6)<< 6)&&main(++i);}