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Mars Lander Instrument Waving In the Martian Wind

Posted by timothy on from the more-proof-of-fraud dept.

Matt_dk writes "This series of images show Phoenix's telltale instrument waving in the Martian wind. Documenting the telltale's movement helps mission scientists and engineers determine what the wind is like on Mars. On the day these images were taken, one of the images seemed to be 'out-of-phase' with other images, possibly indicating a dust devil occurrence."

16 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. [...]one of the images seemed to be "out-of-phase" by snowraver1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    What they are witnessing is the Flying Spaghetti Monster manipulating the results.

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  2. Great choice of words. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Insert joke here about my "telltale instrument" waiving in the wind.

    1. Re:Great choice of words. by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Funny

      See that's why girls don't come here....

      Sheesh. Insensitive....

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  3. Proof by HalAtWork · · Score: 3, Funny

    "On the day these images were taken, one of the images seemed to be "out-of-phase" with other images, possibly indicating a dust devil occurrence"

    OR... it's proof that these martian landings are staged and never really occurred in the first place!

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  4. Any audio from Mars? by pongo000 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just curious...no need to mod this up, I have plenty of karma.

    1. Re:Any audio from Mars? by tuxgeek · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Maybe next time they send a probe to Mars, they will put a directional wind vane and an anemometer on board. A dangling wire just doesn't do it. Only shows a wind is present.

      Audio there would most likely sound the same as wind here, so nothing new.

      --
      "Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain
    2. Re:Any audio from Mars? by pongo000 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I would suggest a spectrum analysis of the audio received from wind noise would be quite valuable, unless NASA happened to also pack along a Doppler radar unit. Instead of guessing if that really *was* a dust devil that passed by, an audio analysis would probably provide definitive proof.

  5. Here's a panorama to provide some perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Phoenix lander on Mars

    The telltale is a small weight dangling from a vertical boom. More sophisticated instruments would have weighed more, so they opted for this minimal weather instrument.

  6. Late Breaking News from the Council by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny

    The most Illustrious Council of Elders has decried this latest humiliation inflicted upon its noble citizens by the latest mechanical invader from the blue planet. K'breel, speaker for the Council, stressed that this most recent insult would not be taken lightly:

    Gentle Citizens, today my gelsacs are engorged in anticipation of the impending demise of the mechanized monsters of the blue planet. One hundred and thirty six days have passed since their latest mechanical terror has landed, and this -- this futile mocking gesture, such a pale imitation of our species' noble and pendulous glory -- is all it has come up with. Citizens, the creatures from the blue planet are so weak that they can barely muster up the strength to mock us. Winter approaches, and with it, darkness. Rejoice, podmates, for our final final victory against their pathetic mocking contraptions shall come at last!

    When a small group of younglings questioned whether the telltale waving of the enemy's instrument was perhaps due to a gust of wind, K'Breel ordered their gelsacs pierced on the spot.

  7. Site slashdotted, here it is, click link for image by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This series of images show Phoenix's telltale instrument waving in the Martian wind. Documenting the telltale's movement helps mission scientists and engineers determine what the wind is like on Mars.

    On the day these images were taken, one of the images seemed to be "out-of-phase" with other images, possibly indicating a dust devil occurrence. Preliminary analysis of the images taken right before and after the passing of this possible dust devil indicates winds from the west at 7 meters per second. The image taken during the possible dust devil shows 11 meters per second wind from the south.

    These images were taken by the lander's Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) on the 136th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Oct. 12, 2008). Phoenix's telltale is part of the Canadian Space Agency's meteorological package on the lander.

    The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

    Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University

    Feel free to discuss this article in the forum... or chat...

  8. With apologies to Bob Dylan by zapakh · · Score: 5, Funny

    How many landers must we see touch down
    Before you can send one that's manned?
    Yes, and how many times must you scoop the soil
    Before you get some in the pan?
    Yes, and how many sols must the dust storms fly
    Before there's ice on polar land?
    The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
    The answer is blowin' in the wind.

  9. Pardon the tangent..... by Anachragnome · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As a carryover from a previous topic regarding the smell of space, I wonder if NASA is trying to determine the smell of the martian atmosphere.

    While we have no humans in place to do the smelling, could samples be taken then sent back for "smell" analysis?

    Previous topic( http://idle.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/16/1533239 )already touched on the importance of the smell of space, but what about Mars?

    The fact that there is mass pushing that little flag around leads me to believe that there are also chemical components to provide smell "signatures".

    1. Re:Pardon the tangent..... by thepotoo · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Atmosphere on Mars is 95% CO2, 3% N, 1.6% Ar + trace. I'd guess you can't smell the Ar (you can't smell .9% Ar on earth), and you can't smell Nitrogen, so that pretty much leaves us with the strongly acidic smell of CO2.

      This is all based on conjecture, so things may changes in local areas, during various weather conditions, or if/when we get more accurate measurements from the surface.

      --
      Obligatory Soundbite Catchphrase
  10. Mars, atmosphere by Haoie · · Score: 3, Informative

    Many seem to forget that Mars does possess an atmosphere. Therefore, has wind and other 'weather' phenomenon.

    Just not anything we can breathe, mostly carbon dioxide.

    --
    If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
    1. Re:Mars, atmosphere by Deadstick · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Mars does possess an atmosphere

      ...and bloody little of it, less than 1/100 as dense as our atmosphere at the surface. A wind sufficient to move part of that instrument would be pretty stormy weather by Martian standards.

      rj

  11. "Instrument" . . . by StefanJ · · Score: 2, Funny

    . . . so that's what the kids are calling it these days.

    I got in big trouble for waving my instrument in the wind.

    Of course, with a string bass, swinging it on a dead calm day would be just as bad.