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Phoenix Mars Lander Hits Halfway Point

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the hoping-history-does-not-repeat-itself dept.

It doesn't come easy writes "There is a nice write-up over at Space.com about Phoenix, NASA's next Mars lander. The article includes a few more details about the steps NASA is taking to ensure a successful mission." The Phoenix project was first given the green light earlier this year and hopes to benefit from some hard lessons learned on earlier projects.

6 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. Re:They need tricorders by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Great, but if they really want to find signs of life, they need a tricorder. :-)

    Or a portable DNA Microarray ... which might be a tad more useful, since they already have a portable assay onboard.

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  2. Why an immobile lander? by visgoth · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why would NASA go with a lander that can't move once its on the surface? Surely the success of the two rovers has proven that its worth the extra complexity to have somthing that can travel. What if the lander ends up in an undesireable area, but there's somthing of interest just out of reach? If you're going through the trouble of building, then launching somthing to go to Mars, you may as well go all out.

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    My patience is infinite, my time is not.
    1. Re:Why an immobile lander? by visgoth · · Score: 2, Interesting
      That's probably the reason, but the Spirit and Opportunity rovers are somewhat bigger:

      1.5 meter (4.9 feet) high by 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) wide by 1.6 meter (5.2 feet) long, according to this site.

      I'm thinking NASA is trying to save money by not sending somthing with mobile capability. Its a pity, as the dev work's already been done... may as well use it.

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      My patience is infinite, my time is not.
  3. Subsurface water by lightyear4 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Some water on the surface of mars has been already detected. However, whether it be frozen or liquid, the search water beneath the regolith is the single most important priority for any manned exploration of our celestial neighbor. Any water present in subsurface acquifers would open the floodgates for progress on mars. It would: provide for human habitation, be a veritable hotbed for xenobiology, and provide the chemical components for fuel cells and even rocket propellant. Our generation needs something exciting as motivation..cross your fingers.

  4. I wish they'd include a microphone by xTown · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I know that they'd rather use the weight for something with an actual scientific purpose, and I know that all it would transmit would be ssshhhsssshhhhhsssshhhh but it would be neat to hear what another planet sounds like. It wouldn't even have to record--just transmit a couple of minutes live.

  5. No liquid water? by scdeimos · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From the article:

    "Mars is our sister planet. It's small, cold and no liquid on the surface ... however, we do see water in its frozen form," Smith reported.

    and...

    Touching down inside the arctic circle, just before summer on Mars and at the end of spring, ice will have retreated from the area. "We're going to land on dry soil. We can start digging immediately," Smith said.

    If the ice is retreating in spring/summer then it's melting, right? Where's the liquid water going?