Navtej Kohli feeling nice and happy about to introduce Mars Lander Phoenix Mission information blog. NASA steps to make a city going to be right direction and Navtej kohli remark that Phoenix a Great steps for making space on Mars planet.
There are very technical reason behind for choosing that name and designing Phoenix . Briefly why Phoenix name came into existence and why this spacecraft name chosen Phoenix. Phoenix basically an mystical bird like eagle and symbol of ancient culture . Some old Greeks are in are in believes that Phoenix bird lives in Arabia which sings beautiful morning song , also Phoenix lived near about 500 year , but unfortunately there are no Phoenix bird on earth at the time . When the bird's death approaches, it bursts into flames, and a new bird springs from the consumed pyre. For this sake of Phoenix bird Phoenix Mission is also “raises from the ashes” . This Mission came into existence while two Mars mission named Mars Polar Lander and Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander had failed previously before Phoenix Mission.
The Mars Polar Lander failed to return data upon its arrival to Mars' antarctic region on December 3, 1999 and left many ambitious science goals undone. Phoenix uses three instruments from this earlier polar lander, the SSI, the RA and the TEGA.
Phoenix Mission is a modification of Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander which was built in 2000. Which improves to take entry, descent and landing into major consideration? Phoenix recovers two instruments delivered for the '01 lander that have been in protected storage: the MARDI and the MECA. Also, the RA has been modified from the '01 lander version.
Why Mars is Chosen for discovery and make a city . Scientist know well that Mars is coldest desert planet which having no existence of water but in Martin artic , water is water ice lurks just below ground level. In 2002 Mars Odyssey Orbiter discovery gives substantial proof about water ice in the northern artic plain of Mars . The Phoenix lander targets this circumpolar region using a robotic arm to dig through the protective top soil layer to the water ice below and ultimately, to bring both soil and water ice to the lander platform for sophisticated scientific analysis.
Before that Phoenix spacecraft no other mission was successfully send data on the earth and the clues which make possible life on Mars go in vein. Phoenix spacecraft is the first one which successfully returning data data from either polar region providing an important contribution to the overall Mars science strategy "Follow the Water" and will be instrumental in achieving the four science goals of NASA's long-term Mars Exploration Program.
-- Whether life exist on Mars or Not?
--- What be climate of the Mars?
--- What be Geology structure of Mars?
--- Making a path for Human Exploration ?
The Phoenix Mission has two bold objectives to support these goals, which are to (1) study the history of water in the Martian arctic and (2) search for evidence of a habitable zone and assess the biological potential of the ice-soil boundary.
First vision : A deep study about water History in all its phases
While the water existence on Mars is concerns ‘Water exist on mars into two states : solid and Gas “ While we are moving towards pole interaction between the solid water ice just below surface , also water vapor in the air makes Mars climate of Mars very critical. Phoenix is designed to collect data meteorological data from the Martin arctic to determine what was the climate on Mars and what be changes possible on Mars in upcoming years .
But scientist are sure for no liquid water exist on the Mars , but Mars Global Surveyor, Odyssey and Exploration Rover missions discoveries tells that , for billion years ago water was flowed in canyons and persisted in shallow lakes. Phoenix is made to discover whether or not water exist as like before 100,000 years ago. After analyzing the chemistry and mineralogy of the soil and ice using robust instruments scientist can understand history of mars. for organic signatures and potential habitability.
Second Vision : Quest for Habitable Zone and discover oil-soil boundary potential
Current discoveries reveals that , at extreme conditions it is possible that bacterial spores can lie dormant in bitterly cold, dry, and airless conditions for millions of years and become activated once conditions become favorable. It might be possible that dormant microbial colonies exist in the Martin arctic , due to periodic wobbling of the planet liquid water may exist for brief periods about every 100,000 years making the soil environment habitable.
Phoenix specially designed to asses the habitability of Martin by special chemical experiments that clarify composition of soil and life giving elements like carbon , nitrogen , phosphorous and hydrogen also after identifying chemical analysis Phoenix also check reduction-oxidation (redox) molecular pairs for determining life support chemical exist in the soil or not also other soil properties like pH and saltiness.
Some scientist having theory that , it might be possible , despite having life sustain ingredients in soil , soil having many hazards which are barrier for biological growth, like powerful oxidants which break apart organic molecules . Powerful oxidants that can break apart organic molecules are expected in dry environments bathed in UV light, such as the surface of Mars. But a few inches below the surface, the soil could protect organisms from the harmful solar radiation. Phoenix will dig deep enough into the soil to analyze the soil environment potentially protected from UV looking.
Phoenix mission is the hard step of NASA scout class , which came into existence because of government, academia, and industry collaborative approach. Peter Smith of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory is the Principal Investigator of the Phoenix mission and looks after all about that .
There are three major name which makes Phoenix dream came into existence and working hard for that Peter Smith of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory ,project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the flight system manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems (LMSS) . They work hard and share his ideas for making the Mars Phoenix lender dreams became true.
PI Smith has delegated project management responsibility to JPL. Project manager Barry Goldstein leads the JPL teams like engineers and scientist, dedicatedly working for payload management and flight system with mission operation. Such functions are supported by system engineering , mission assurance withy business office . JPL work as interface to Deep space Network , used for sending sequence and receiving data.
During the 10-month cruise phase to Mars, JPL maintains the proper cruise trajectory to get the spacecraft to Mars by performing correcting maneuvers. Finally, JPL will lead the Phoenix spacecraft through the highly risky entry-descent-landing process.
Phoenix designing , construction and testing Martin engineering team leader Ed Sedivy was also Lockheed for making Mars Surveyor 2001 lander which give milestone for making of Phoenix . Marin engineering team works to know what be drawback in previous mission spacecraft and developed enhanced spacecraft after extensive testing . Lockheed Martin team will closely monitor Phoenix's health by linking their spacecraft operations centers with those at JPL and the University of Arizona.
Leslie Tamppari who is project scientist at JPL working closely with PI smith from Arizona to lead international assembly of scientist from government , research institute , academics and private bodies which already had experienced with pervious mission . Scientist from hydrology, geology, chemistry, biology, and atmospheric science background divided into four instrument grouping , each group having co-investigator (Co-I) scientist to lead .
The groups are not intended to be restrictive: Co-Is are expected to have a broad, cross-instrument participation driven by scientific objectives. The science team will co-locate for the first three months of the mission, to operate all the instruments and to perform the first analysis on data that may provide important answers to the following questions: (1) can the Martian arctic support life, (2) what is the history of water at the landing site, and (3) how is the Martian climate affected by polar dynamics?
To answer these questions, Phoenix uses some of the most sophisticated and advanced technology ever sent to Mars. A robust robotic arm built by JPL digs through the soil to the water ice layer underneath, and delivers soil and ice samples to the mission's experiments. On the deck, miniature ovens and a mass spectrometer, built by the University of Arizona and University of Texas-Dallas, will provide chemical analysis of trace matter. A chemistry lab-in-a-box, assembled by JPL, will characterize the soil and ice chemistry. Imaging systems, designed by the University of Arizona, University of Neuchatel (Switzerland) (providing an atomic force microscope), Max Planck Institute (Germany) and Malin Space Science Systems, will provide an unprecedented view of Mars—spanning 12 powers of 10 in scale. The Canadian Space Agency will deliver a meteorological station, marking the first significant involvement of Canada in a mission to Mars.
The University of Arizona will also host the Phoenix Mission's Science Operations Center (SOC) in its Tucson facility. From the SOC, the Phoenix science and engineering teams will command the lander once it is safely landed on Mars, and also, receive data as it is transmitted directly to Earth. A payload interoperability test bed (PIT) will be located with the SOC to verify an optimal integration of Phoenix's complex scientific instruments. Working together, the SOC and PIT will ensure a seamless scientific and engineering process—from science goal to instrument commands to down-linked and analyzed data.
As with all major NASA missions, Phoenix has a comprehensive education and public outreach program. PI Smith leads the program, which is managed by the University of Arizona, and connects to outstanding educational resources in the desert southwest region, and throughout the U.S.
This powerful team is the cornerstone to the Phoenix mission, which has high hopes to be the first mission to "touch" and examine water on Mars—ultimately, to pave the way for future robotic missions, and possibly, human exploration.