May 25, 2008

Phoenix Has Landed! Transmission Received at Mission Control

The Phoenix Mars Lander has touched down on Martian regolith after successfully carrying out the entry, descent and landing (EDL) phase of the mission. Two minutes after separation, Mars orbiter Odyssey reported receiving a signal from Phoenix as it approached the atmosphere. Then a couple of minutes after that, it entered the atmosphere and Odyssey continued reporting a signal. As the heatshield finished doing its job, signal was received when it was ejected. As the parachute had opened, a measure of the distance from the ground was counted down. Then separation when the lander dropped and then ignited its rockets. Phoenix sent the signal at 16:54 PST.

NASA controllers admitted feeling jittery hours before Phoenix made its final approach into the Mars atmosphere but the $420 million-dollar spacecraft landed on-target within the northern arctic region so it can begin analysing surface soil for the presence of water. Evidence for ancient liquid water will also help scientists to understand the Red Planet's suitability to support life. This "Scout Class" mission will also be highly valuable when planning the future of manned settlements. For more detail, refer to the Mars Foundation interview with Sara Hammond.

For now, we await further news from our new outpost on the surface of Mars!

Congratulations Phoenix from all members of the Mars Foundation!

May 23, 2008

The World Watches Phoenix on its Final Approach to Mars; Interview with Phoenix Mission Public Affairs Manager, Sara Hammond

The Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) - "Seven Minutes of Terror" for Phoenix

At 16:53 PST on Sunday afternoon (19:53 EST Sunday evening, or 00:53 GMT Monday morning) the world will be quiet, waiting for a signal from the Phoenix lander.

Shortly before this time, the robotic explorer will have sped toward the Martian atmosphere at a velocity of 12,750 miles per hour (20,500 kilometres per hour). Using only the upper atmosphere of the Red Planet, Phoenix will begin to aerobrake, slowing rapidly as it re-enters. A parachute will deploy once the lander's heat shield has done its job, slowing the craft from 900 miles per hour (1,450 kilometres per hour) to 250 miles per hour (400 kilometres per hour) in a nerve-racking 15 seconds. Should the parachute be deployed too early, the high velocities may rip the tough canopy to shreds; open the parachute too late, Phoenix may not have time to slow sufficiently for landing. This is only the start of Phoenix's "Seven Minutes of Terror" (chronicled by this superb, and inspiring NASA video).

When sufficiently slowed, the descending craft will jettison its heat shield so it can continue to drop through the atmosphere. This will be the first time the Phoenix lander will be exposed to the Mars air. Shortly after the heat shield has been removed, Phoenix will lower its legs in preparation for landing with its radar systems, tracking how far it is from the ground.

When the time is right, when Phoenix is about 3,200 ft (that's about a kilometre) from the ground, the onboard systems will decide on the point at which the lander will separate from the "back shell" and parachute. It will detach from the parachute at a velocity of 125 miles per hour (200 kilometres per hour) and then freefall from a height equivalent to two Empire State Buildings stacked on top of one another... this will be the most frightening point of the Entry Descent and Landing (EDL) phase.

The onboard systems will have to make sure the craft is falling at the correct orientation, being careful to ensure a safe (and upright) landing. Then the most critical part; Phoenix will light up all its thrusters to slow it sufficiently to land gently on the Martian regolith. Once the EDL is complete, a signal will be sent back to Earth, which we will receive eight minutes later at 16:53 PST.

All the operations carried out during the entry, descent and landing are fully automated. This intense seven minutes will be controlled solely by Phoenix, there is no human intervention.

Exclusive interview with Public Affairs Manager, Sara Hammond

Last year, the Mars Foundation selected the Phoenix Mars Lander as our "Featured Mars Mission" as we realized the huge potential the lander had for aiding the future of manned settlement plans. The MarsHome.org story "The Phoenix Mars Mission", investigates how Phoenix will further our understanding about water held in the Martian polar regions and how the "Scout Class" lander will be the first step toward establishing a human presence on the Red Planet. But how was the Phoenix landing site chosen in the first place? Which Mars missions aided the search for the location? We were very lucky to get some answers to our questions from the Phoenix science team's Public Affairs Manager, Sara Hammond.

Sara was kind enough to provide some very interesting details to how and why the Mars polar region was chosen for the Phoenix landing, what the lander will be looking for when it carries out science operations and which previous Mars missions have helped pave the way for Phoenix.

1) Which Mars missions helped with the selection of a landing location on the Martian surface?

Sara: In a way, data/imagery from all previous successful missions has helped in determining an appropriate landing site. Current missions that have helped extensively with this and are currently involved are Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Express. Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images from the Mars Global Surveyor mission were widely used in locating potential landing sites before HiRISE images became available.

2) Was the location primarily selected due to the possibility of finding life? Or was it to aid the understanding of surface composition for future manned missions?

Sara: The landing site was not chosen with the intent of finding life. The landing site was chosen because of the nature of the surface and the lack of hazards to landing (i.e. large expanses with little variation on the surface, low abundance of large boulders, low surface slopes, relatively smooth surface texture) and evidence for ground ice near the surface. The payload of instruments is particularly appropriate for examining an environment of ice and soil and for gaining a better understanding of surface or near surface composition to determine if the Martian arctic soil could have in the past, or currently, support life. While the science payload of Phoenix is not designed for life detection, this mission is an important stepping stone in the search for whether Mars has life.

3) Do you expect to find surface ice near the landing site? How much information can be found out about possible permafrost water ice?

Sara: Yes. NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter found evidence in early 2002 that this region shelters high concentrations of water ice mixed with the soil just beneath the surface. Isotopic ratios in the ice will be measured with the mass spectrometer. Differences between the isotopic ratios in the subsurface ice and in atmospheric water could indicate whether or not the ice is ancient. Simply finding ground ice will provide ground-truth for the measurements made by orbiting spacecraft and will refine models of ice depth and of atmospheric-ice interactions in widespread areas of Mars that contain subsurface ice.

The Mars Foundation really appreciates Sara taking the time to respond to our questions, especially during this very busy time!

So how can you keep up with Phoenix events? Firstly, check out the Phoenix mission site (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/index.php) and the regularly updated blogs by the mission control scientists (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/blogs/index.html)

Secondly, check out your local TV news listings for coverage of the event...

We look forward with anticipation for the message from Mars on Sunday, we will update MarsHome.org with news as we get it...

May 3, 2008

The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM): Exclusive Interview with Mission Scientist Dr Adrian Brown

Water will be one of the most critical factors influencing any long-term manned mission to Mars. Will there be ample surface ice that can be mined and melted? Are there sub-surface aquifers colonists can "tap" into? Is there enough water vapour in the atmosphere that can be condensed and stored?

We've heard the possibilities of sending an advanced team of robots to extract and store atmospheric water, there are also plenty of ideas of how we could mine solid ice and subsurface supplies. But wait a minute, where would we search for this water? In what form can we expect it to be in? Has there been water existing on the surface in the past? All these questions (and a lot more besides) are beginning to be answered by the three spacecraft currently in orbit around the Red Planet. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), Mars Odyssey and ESA's Mars Express are all operational, looking down on Mars. But the MRO has a special device on board: The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM).

Dr Adrian Brown, SETI Institute principle investigator at the NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, is one of the scientists analysing the data being collected by CRISM and has kindly taken some time to talk with the Mars Foundation about his work... [more]

Dr Brown's interest in Mars was sparked after reading "The Case for Mars" by Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society. At the time Adrian was in the Royal Australian Navy sailing in Hawai'ian waters keeping an eye open for the "bad guys", but from this point on he became fascinated with the Red Planet and began looking for an alternative way to "win a small victory for mankind". It would appear he too fell for the allure of exploring Mars.

An Australian citizen, Brown moved to California after completing his PhD in Earth and Planetary Science at Macquarie University, in Sydney. His thesis was titled "Hyperspectral Mapping of Ancient Hydrothermal Systems". The CRISM project gave him the opportunity to expand on his PhD and work on analysing the icy Martian polar regions. He is currently studying the seasonal processes at the south pole of Mars. It is hoped that a quantitative analysis of the amount of water and CO₂ ice held on the surface and in the atmosphere may be derived.

Plentiful Water Ice

It appears the north polar region of Mars already has plenty of water ice to spare. According to Brown's estimate, the north pole can be thought of as a disk of near-pure water ice (including dirt from dust and other impurities) with a diameter of about 1000 km (620 miles) with a depth of 3 km (1.9 miles); that's a staggering volume of 2.35 million cubic kilometres – enough water to cover the continental US to a depth of over 200 meters.

The southern ice cap is a different story. It too holds a small disk of water ice (300 kilometers in diameter), only below a thin layer of CO₂ ice. Although small, this ice cap reaches 2 km (1.24 miles) in height, and ignoring the CO₂ and other impurities, there's about 140 thousand cubic km of pure water, enough to cover the continental US to a depth of 14 meters.

So, there's quite a lot of water then? To put this in perspective, Brown points out that this is about as much water held in the Greenland ice sheet, and 500 times less than the total volume of water in our oceans. At least we know there is a large potential source of water ice easily accessible on the surface for Mars colonies to mine.

Heating Permafrost and Aquifers

Dr Brown then indicates that there may be substantial quantities of water held below the surface too and highlights the Phoenix mission as a possible lander that could uncover more secrets about what lies beneath:

"In fact, we also know there is a large amount of permafrost in both poles, poleward of 60 degrees latitude, and we'll find out more about that reservoir when Phoenix lands there on 25 May. What we know now from the Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector instruments on Mars Odyssey is that a large amount of water ice is trapped in the subsurface of the polar regions. For settlers willing to settle the flat wastes of Utopia Planitia, north of 60 degrees latitude, they will simply have to drill, heat, and repeat to get all the water they like. Phoenix will be the first robotic probe to try this strategy." - Dr Adrian Brown

There is also the possibility of finding liquid water under the surface. Brown points out the sporadic discharges of water around the warmer equatorial regions that may have created the gullies as observed by the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC). These gullies may provide some clues as to where colonists may drill to seek out these aquifers.

Atmospheric Ice Crystals

But what about the water vapour in the atmosphere? CRISM actually wasn't designed to detect vapour in the atmosphere, but it can detect water ice crystals, which is useful as in polar regions water vapour will condense and freeze very quickly. So the work being carried out focuses on analysing atmospheric water ice and mapping it throughout the Mars seasons to see how it varies. This study may help to explain why the north polar region is more rich in water ice than the south.

When asked whether the atmospheric ice crystals would be useful to Mars colonists, Brown draws some parallels with some methods of extraction as commonly seen in science fiction:

"Absolutely - colonists would be able to use Martian [atmospheric] water, though of course it would be a far more precious resource than here on Earth. Think 'Arrakis' from Dune - stillsuits could be a normal part of the life of future Martian colonists. Water vapour and water ice clouds are a normal part of Martian seasons and they'd require distilling (think of Uncle Owen's vapour farm on Tatooine [in "Star Wars: A New Hope"]) but they may be a way for colonists far from the Tharsis or Elysium regions to collect water." - Dr Adrian Brown

Although the hunt and characterization of water on Mars is highly important, the CRISM instrument has many other accolades. Since beginning its operations in 2006, CRISM has discovered new phyllosilicate minerals on the surface, but the mission scientists are trying to understand how they got there in the first place. "These include kaolinite (chinaware is made of this mineral), talc (the main constituent of many soaps) and hydrated silica (perhaps like chert, which Indian knives were carved out from)," Brown continued, "the small amounts of these minerals means it has been impossible to discover them before CRISM, and previously they were discounted in all our modeling of Mars." Now it seems CRISM is beginning to rewrite the Mars history books as these minerals have been previously discounted.

Wrapping up our interview, I asked Adrian if he personally wanted to experience Mars, if so, what he would like to see the most:

"Of course I would love to travel to Mars, most of all to go to the polar regions and observe them with my own eyes. If I could actually go to the surface of Mars to investigate the fascinating geology of Nili Fossae and Valles Marineris, that would be so awesome. And to visit a gully site and dig behind it to try and find its source... and to witness the cold volcanoes of mud that erupt in the polar cryptic region during springtime... to go and understand these things that have us puzzled at the moment would be so amazing... and of course more questions would be raised, more geological problems unearthed, and the cycle of understanding the Red Planet would continue." - Dr Adrian Brown

I share his enthusiasm and I'm sure many Mars settlement advocates feel the same way. For me, I'd join Adrian for that trip to Vallis Marineris, the largest valley in the Solar System, and I too would be intrigued to really see where the source of the Mars gullies lead.

An inspiring insight to an incredible instrument orbiting Mars, so thank you Dr Brown for your time in answering my questions. If you are interested in Dr Brown's work and would like to read more, visit his project website (http://abrown.seti.org/index.html). You can also read more about the CRISM instrument at NASA's CRISM web site (http://crism.jhuapl.edu/).

May 2, 2008

Dr. Richard Sylvan

Dr. Richard Sylvan passed away at the beginning of April.

Richard was passionate about helping people, obviously as a doctor. But, I knew him for his work in helping people move beyond the Earth, to open up new opportunities for the next generations on the next world, Mars, and beyond.

Richard was instrumental in the Mars Homestead project. He helped design our first Mars Settlement design, now called the Hillside Settlement, especially the medical facilities. He was very interested and knowledgeable, such as on the effects of radiation and gravity. And, he helped support the Mars Foundation and its Mars Homestead effort is several other ways, when it was most needed.

I had first met Richard through the Mars Society; he was especially active in the Political task force. His health was already not good, when we met. It took significant effort for him to travel, yet he loved to attend Mars and Space conferences to learn and spread his knowledge to others. I remember him as passionate, and as energetic as he was able to be given his health.

Richard also had good stories to tell from his past, I wish I had known Richard when he was younger.

Here is a photo of Richard (on right), explaining something to Matt Bowes, at a conference in 2004:
http://www.marshome.org/images2/displayimage.php?pos=-1527

Richard is 2nd from the right, in both of these photos of some of the members of the Mars Homestead programming team:
http://www.marshome.org/images2/displayimage.php?pos=-1794
http://www.marshome.org/images2/displayimage.php?pos=-1894

We don’t have an image of Richard’s work, but he laid out a medical room for the Mars Hillside Settlement, which is just around the corner to the left in this interior view (by Phil Smith):
http://www.marshome.org/images2/displayimage.php?pos=-3420

A service was held Wednesday, April 9, 2008, at 1:30 edt, in Boynton Beach, Florida. Richard resided in Atlanta and Florida.

- A message from Bruce Mackenzie, Co-Founder, Mars Foundation