Mars Phoenix: Pay your respects October 31, 2008
Posted by sarah in: science . Add a commentNASA’s Mars lander, Mars Phoenix, is struggling for power as the Martian winter sets in at its polar landing site. On its hugely popular Twitter feed, Phoenix has been keeping us updated on its fight to stay alive for another day. I have to confess I felt strangely emotional (and then foolish!) when the little lander said goodbye….
And it seems like I’m not the only one who’s formed an attachment to Phoenix! Over at Wired, writers started a contest to write epitaphs for the robot. So join in here and submit your entry!
Surprisingly (to me at least), many people seem to associate Phoenix with being female. What’s the psychology behind that?! Scientists are male, but little robots sent to Mars are female? Interesting.
Lights out for Mars Phoenix? September 30, 2008
Posted by sarah in: science . Add a commentAs the light is fading at Mars’ Northern pole, Mars Phoenix, the lander that has explored the surface of the planet since May this year (and everyone’s favourite Twitter feed) faces a race against time to gather more science data.
Nine images taken by the Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows the sun rising on the morning of the lander's 101st Martian day after landing. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University
Water on Mars August 1, 2008
Posted by sarah in: science . Add a comment
If you follow science news, you most likely heard the news that the MarsPhoenix lander found water ice on Mars. Yay! You can read the official press release here, with some links to background about the mission and images.
After some troubles with getting the soil samples into the oven for analysis, it’s great news that not only a sample managed to be successfully collected but water was also found. Being involved in a space mission myself (the Mid-Infrared Instrument MIRI for the James Webb Space Telescope), I’m still amazed that we can get such sophisticated instrument into space – and they work! [On that note, an engineering model for MIRI is being tested in the UK right now, and once the exciting performance testing starts in late August, I'll hopefully be able to blog updates from the lab.]
