Phoenix Mars Landing Thread

[garyw]

From BBC:
Maybe there is hope of hearing from it again?

Nevertheless, Phoenix has given us a wealth of information and has served her country well.

Very small chance but when summer returns to the northern latitudes of Mars there is a chance the Phoenix will power up and send a signal. In all likelihood the solar panels and circuit boards will crack open due to the extreme cold of the winter.

 

[Urwumpe]

Now the question is.. why isn't it possible to put a permanent mars climate station down there, which can survive for more than just a few months?

 

[ryan]

Look at Phoenix cousin, http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA10128_modest.jpg
We shall now have a minute of pause for MER.

 

[Woo482]

well even if that rover did fail its lasted a lot longer than what it was built for

 

[DaveS]

Now the question is.. why isn't it possible to put a permanent mars climate station down there, which can survive for more than just a few months?

It depends on when you land. The winters on Mars up at the pole is very unforgiving and harsh. They're expecting day-around temperatures of less than -184°C until next October! That's slightly past the temperature of liquid oxygen(-182°C). So really good heaters are must and needs to be on constantly to keep the spacecraft electronics from freezing apart which is what they expect will happen with the Phoenix electronics and solar arrays.

Not only that, they also expect Phoenix to be completely encased in CO2 ice for all that time will push down the temperatures even further!

So martian winters at the poles are outright hostile and not a place you want to be.

 

[Urwumpe]

Yes, but the poles are also a good place to study the climate of mars in its extremes. Wouldn't it be possible to land a RTG powered probe there? Or maybe even test nuclear reactors as power supply on Mars?

 

[garyw]

Yes. This was an option for Phoenix but it was deemed to expensive and too heavy for this mission.

 

[Notebook]

More info via the BBC:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7408033.stm

N.