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Mars One to send unmanned probe to Mars, broadcast mission live on earth in 2018
Sending humans to Mars is a multi-step process, and today, the Mars One project -- you know, the folks who aim to colonize the Red Planet and fund the mission, in part, by televising the whole thing -- has outlined its plans for a preliminary mission to check things out before shooting folks into space. It's partnered up with long time aerospace contractor Lockheed Martin and European satellite firm SSTL to send an unmanned probe to Mars in 2018. Lockheed will provide a mission concept study to update its Phoenix lander that went to the fourth rock from the sun back in 2008, while SSTL is going to figure out how to build a communications relay satellite system capable of sending live broadcasts of the probe's doings back to earth. The lander will be equipped to test out technologies needed to make human settlement possible, but part of its mission is currently undefined. You see, Mars One is going to hold a contest next year, soliciting ideas from university and school-age students as to what types of other activities the probe should perform. Additionally, the plan is for the public to help direct the lander, too -- those who back the Mars One project on Indiegogo will get to vote on some mission decisions down the line. Oh, and if you were planning to be among the first wave of settlers when the manned missions start, you'll have to wait an extra two years, as that launch date's been pushed back to 2025.
Mars Phoenix lander goes silent, NASA ends mission
The inevitable has happened. Our friend, the loved and loving Mars Phoenix lander has gone quietly into that long, good night once and for all. Even though we joyfully joined the lander on its adventures as it Tweeted from beyond the stratosphere, and thrilled at its explorations, pitfalls, and pratfalls, try not to feel the familiar sting of humanity at the thought of our little robotic buddy facing that call to interminable sleep we all must answer one day. Let's rest easy knowing that the NASA-spawned craft served dutifully and fearlessly right up to the end, when it was overpowered by a horde of space zombies and turned into an undead killing machine. We'll miss you, pal.
Anthropomorphized Mars lander in terminal "Groundhog Day" mode, tugging heartstrings
Dear Phoenix lander, you always find new ways to both delight and torture us. We listened anxiously for your updates about the weather on Mars, watched you "think" your way out of nearly fatal situations, and marveled at your liquid discoveries. It seems like only yesterday we were preparing for your send off. And what new violence is this you're doing upon our souls? Oh, that's right: you're dying. Not shutting down. Dying. Not quickly, either. And you're going to suffer from what is essentially a NASA-induced nightmare terminal case of Alzheimer's now, too. As early as tonight, the NASA team will upload repeating commands designed to "wring a few additional weather measurements" out of Phoenix by placing it in "terminal science mode," meaning that the lander will repeat the same sequence of actions over and over again, every day before shutting down for 19 hours. The team has also discovered that the craft is now unable to fully recharge its batteries, causing it to lose its memory each night when it shuts down. So the lander wakes up in the morning, does some science, goes to sleep, wakes up again, doesn't remember a thing, does some science... oh, you get the idea. The Phoenix team doesn't know how much longer the lander is going to survive, but they indicated that it could be "several weeks." Please, just let the pain end. Hit the read link for the long, sad story.
NASA says Phoenix lander is sampling water on Mars
Yep, just like we'd heard, the Phoenix lander has identified water in a soil sample it collected in Mars earlier, and NASA's extended the mission for another 90 days to go look for more. There's no analysis of the ice yet, but it doesn't look like there's any organic materials in the sample, and it'll take another three to four weeks before there's any more data to reveal. Hopefully that means we'll be packing up our silver go-go boots and taking off for our fabulous future lives on Mars in a month, but we'll see how things go.
Mars Phoenix lander saves itself with some quick thinking
The Phoenix lander has already proven its mettle by finding ice on Mars, and now it's gone and shown off its quick-thinking skills by shutting down its robotic arm after receiving a command that could have permanently damaged it. The lander apparently did it's best to find a workaround first, however, but ultimately determined that any further movement would have bent its wrist out of shape. That left NASA engineers scrambling yesterday to come up with some new instructions to send to the lander, and they're now simply waiting to see if they meet with the robot's approval.[Via Slashdot]
Mars Phoenix lander discovers ice on Mars
It's only fitting that the glorious news of water ice on Mars was broke over Twitter this evening, via the Mars Phoenix lander's own first-person ramblings. Apparently Mars Phoenix was keeping an eye on some white patches it uncovered the other day, only to discover they'd disappeared today. According to the scientist folk over at NASA, that means those white patches must've been ice, which dissipated once uncovered. Now Mars Phoenix still has the considerable task of uncovering more ice and sampling it, but the mission is ahead of schedule and NASA has already identified a hard patch of ground it wants to dig into. Congrats to Mars Phoenix and all the fine folks at NASA, now be sure to watch out for the cave-dwelling little green men![Via Wired Science]
Mars Phoenix lander has near-perfect landing, says "it's really cold out here"
Things are looking good for the Phoenix lander which touched down on Mars at 4:53pm on Sunday, May 25. The NASA nerds are reporting an almost perfect landing, with the spacebot tilted only one quarter of a degree. In fact, they're claiming that this landing was "far smoother than any simulation or test that was ever done." The lander's north-pole location is measured at -106 degrees Fahrenheit and chock-full of life-preserving ice. Phoenix will chill on Mars for 90 days, sniffing soil and looking for frozen Martians in whatever form they may take. Now that Mars Oddyssey -- one of its main communication uplinks -- has passed over the lander, we have our first pictures, one of which is above. Nice work, guys![Via The Phoenix Mission]
Mars Phoenix lander to touch down on the red planet tonight
Suit up, space nerds, because the Phoenix lander is mere hours away from touchdown on Mars, and NASA's blowing this thing out. Not only will you get a live video feed from their site, but apparently Mission Control ops will be liveblogging the touchdown and ensuing alien encounters / totally boring rock digging. Festivities kick off at about 6:00pm ET, prepare to set faces to stunned.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Read - Phoenix mission pageRead - NASA live video feedRead - NASA Mission Control liveblog
Phoenix Lander gears up to dig in on Mars
While NASA has plenty of long term plans for Mars in the works, most of its attention these days is focused on its Phoenix Lander mission, set to launch this August. After a long, lonely journey through space, the robot craft will (hopefully) ease its way down to the surface near Mars' northern pole on May 25, 2008 and get to work digging up soil samples in search of evidence of past (or present) life on the planet. To accomplish that, the lander's equipped with 7.7 foot long robotic arm capable of digging up to three feet into the ground, which NASA expects will be enough to get at frozen water thought to be hiding beneath the Martian surface. The mission is also notable for being NASA's first attempt at a so-called "soft landing" on Mars in three decades, eschewing the airbags employed as of late in favor of a heat shield/parachute combination, with some rocket engines firing at the last minute to gently set it down Lunar Lander-style.[Photo courtesy of Corby Waste/Jet Propulsion Laboratory]