Phoenix Lander
Phoenix Mars Lander
by William B.
The Phoenix Mars Lander was launched on August 4th, 2007, and landed May 25th, 2008. Last contact with it was November 2nd, 2008. Its main mission was to go to the North Pole of Mars to do a soil analysis of the ice mixed soil. To do this, it must dig several centimeters under the surface to get to this ice rich soil. To do this, this robot must have an actuator as a robotic arm that is able to dig and pick up soil for analysis. On top of that, once the soil is collected, there must be many sensors on board to analyse the soil. Some of these sensors include a microscopy, electrochemistry, conductivity, thermal and evolved-gas analyzers. Another mission this lander had was to observe the climate of Mars to help determine how to go about human exploration in the future. For this task, the lander includes a meteorological station to help collect more specific data about the weather. It’s body is large, measuring in at 770 lbs, 18 feet long, and 5 feet tall.
Although it does have some preloaded programs to perform simple tasks, such as dig, or analyze the soil, it still does require some direct communication to perform its tasks. Its communication is fed through other Mars orbiters and then back to earth. This radio communicator is a sensor on the lander. Another very important part of the robot is its motors. Its motors are actuators that give the robot the ability to move. This could include automated movements directed by a program, but there are also manual controls. Communications from earth can manually direct the lander around to where it needs to go. For the robot to be driven manually, the driver must see where it is going. There are camera sensors on the robot to take images of its surroundings. These will help guide the robot where it needs to go, and also take crucial pictures of the landscape of Mars. All of these need energy to run, and that is where the gallium arsenide solar panels come in. They are very large panels on the lander that absorbs the sun's energy and converts it into electricity to run its many complex actuators and sensors.
Phoenix Lander
by:Andrew V
The phoenix lander, launched on August,4th 2007 and landed on May 25th,2008, was designed for two main goals. One, was to study the history of water in the northern arctic plains of Mars. Two, to find evidence of a habitable zone for biological life.It then dug into the ice-rich layer of the surface to take samples. The results changed the way we looked at Mars. Phoenix found a mineral called calcium carbonate that suggested occasional presence of thawed water, it also observed falling snow.
I think the phoenix lander is a robot. It’s got a Robotic arm and camera. The robotic arm was designed to extend 2.35 m from its base on the lander, and had the ability to dig down to 0.5 m below sandy surface. It took samples of dirt and ice that were analyzed by other instruments on the lander.Power. Power is generated using two gallium arsenide solar panels.mounted to the cruise stage during cruise, and via two gallium arsenide solar array panels deployed from the lander after touchdown on the Martian surface. It had a brain octagonal base with 3 legs. The brain allows communication between Earth and the lander. It tells the robot arm when to turn on and when to go into power saving mode. The brain uses a guidance system to navigate landing.
History of the Phoenix Mars Lander
By: Toby B
The Phoenix Mars Lander was designed for two main goals. One, to study the history of water in the northern arctic plains of Mars. Two, to find evidence of a habitable zone for biological life. It was launched by NASA on August 4, 2007 and later landed on Mars on May 25, 2008. It then dug into the ice-rich layer of the surface to take samples. The results changed the way we looked at Mars. Phoenix found a mineral called calcium carbonate that suggested occasional presence of thawed water, it also observed falling snow. The mission's biggest surprise was the discovery of perchlorate, a chemical on Earth that is food for some microbes and potentially toxic for others. During its 142 Martian days, it also recorded weather patterns. The Phoenix ended operations on May 7, 2010, after many attempts to gain contact. The last known communications was November 2, 2008.
The spacecraft is about 18 feet long with the solar panels out while it is 7 feet tall. This is the body of the robot. To land down on Mars, the body weighs about 900 pounds and has a octagonal base with 3 legs. The brain allows communication between Earth and the lander. It tells the robot arm when to turn on and when to go into power saving mode. The brain uses a guidance system to navigate landing. Phoenix has a thermal and gas analyzer that takes in soil samples and analyzes their properties, this would be the behavior of the robot. There is lots of sensors on the lander such as a temperature gauge to take in temperatures as its descends to the surface. There is a camera to take pictures of the landscape. Red, green, blue, and ultraviolet LEDs illuminate the samples in differing color combinations to enhance the understanding of the soil and water-ice structure. The actuators or the motors allow the robot to move based what the program tells it what to do. The robotic arm moves based on what the program told it how and when to move. Though most of the directions to the robot are already loaded onto a program there is still some direct communications that had to happen. These communications would come from Earth and then to Mars orbiters which would then send the commands to the lander. The same thing would occur when the lander would send out information to Earth.
Works Cited
David, Leonard. “Phoenix Mars Lander: Getting Down and Dirty On the Red Planet.” Space.com, Space.com, 8 Mar. 2016, www.space.com/2249-phoenix-mars-lander-dirty-red-planet.html.
Dunbar, Brian. “Phoenix Mars Lander.” NASA, NASA, 2 Mar. 2015, www.nasa.gov/redplanet/phoenix.html.
Greicius, Tony. “Phoenix Mars Lander Overview.” NASA, NASA, 25 Mar. 2015, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/overview.
“NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Officially Dead.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 25 May 2010, news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100525-science-space-mars-phoenix-lander-broken-dead/.
“Phoenix Mars Lander - Instruments and Mission Objectives.” Weather - Windows to the Universe, www.windows2universe.org/space_missions/mars/phoenix_mars_lander/phoenix_objectives_instruments.html.
“Phoenix | Mars Exploration Program.” NASA, NASA, mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/past/phoenix/.