A new space explorer is waiting in the wings and ready to take center stage: the Mars lander called Phoenix. Set for launch aboard a Delta II rocket, Phoenix's assignment is to dig through the Martian soil and ice in the arctic region and use its onboard scientific instruments to analyze the samples it retrieves.
Both rocket and spacecraft are undergoing final preparation at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Image above: In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a clean room technician takes a measurement on the Phoenix spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett+ View larger image
NASA Readies Mars Lander for August Launch to Icy Site
07.09.07
WASHINGTON - NASA's next Mars mission will look beneath a frigid arctic landscape for conditions favorable to past or present life.
Instead of roving to hills or craters, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will claw down into the icy soil of the Red Planet's northern plains. The robot will investigate whether frozen water near the Martian surface might periodically melt enough to sustain a livable environment for microbes. To accomplish that and other key goals, Phoenix will carry a set of advanced research tools never before used on Mars.
First, however, it must launch from Florida during a three-week period beginning Aug. 3, then survive a risky descent and landing on Mars next spring.
"Our 'follow the water' strategy for exploring Mars has yielded a string of dramatic discoveries in recent years about the history of water on a planet where similarities with Earth were much greater in the past than they are today," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, Washington. "Phoenix will complement our strategic exploration of Mars by being our first attempt to actually touch and analyze Martian water -- water in the form of buried ice."
NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter found evidence in 2002 to support theories that large areas of Mars, including the arctic plains, have water ice within an arm's reach of the surface.
"Phoenix has been designed to examine the history of the ice by measuring how liquid water has modified the chemistry and mineralogy of the soil," said Peter Smith, the Phoenix principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
"In addition, our instruments can assess whether this polar environment is a habitable zone for primitive microbes. To complete the scientific characterization of the site, Phoenix will monitor polar weather and the interaction of the atmosphere with the surface."
With its flanking solar panels unfurled, the lander is about 18 feet wide and 5 feet long. A robotic arm 7.7 feet long will dig to the icy layer, which is expected to lie within a few inches of the surface. A camera and conductivity probe on the arm will examine soil and any ice there. The arm will lift samples to two instruments on the lander's deck. One will use heating to check for volatile substances, such as water and carbon-based chemicals that are essential building blocks for life. The other will analyze the chemistry of the soil.
A meteorology station, with a laser for assessing water and dust in the atmosphere, will monitor weather throughout the planned three-month mission during Martian spring and summer. The robot's toolkit also includes a mast-mounted stereo camera to survey the landing site, a descent camera to see the site in broader context and two microscopes.
For the final stage of landing, Phoenix is equipped with a pulsed thruster method of deceleration. The system uses an ultra-lightweight landing system that allows the spacecraft to carry a heavier scientific payload. Like past Mars missions, Phoenix uses a heat shield to slow its high-speed entry, followed by a supersonic parachute that further reduces its speed to about 135 mph. The lander then separates from the parachute and fires pulsed descent rocket engines to slow to about 5.5 mph before landing on its three legs.
"Landing safely on Mars is difficult no matter what method you use," said Barry Goldstein, the project manager for Phoenix at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Our team has been testing the system relentlessly since 2003 to identify and address whatever vulnerabilities may exist."
Researchers evaluating possible landing sites have used observations from Mars orbiters to find the safest places where the mission's goals can be met. The leading candidate site is a broad valley with few boulders at a latitude equivalent to northern Alaska.
Smith leads the Phoenix mission, with project management at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the development partnership located at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions are provided by the Canadian Space Agency, the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, the Max Planck Institute, Germany, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Additional information on the Phoenix mission is available online at:
EUREKA! Luly Cruz, National Scientist By Queena Lee-Chua Inquirer Last updated 05:30am (Mla time) 07/07/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- July is National Science and Technology Month. Let us pay homage to people who have done much for our country, but who unfortunately, are still not as well-known as movie stars or basketball players. These are our National Scientists, and Lourdes “Luly” Jansuy Cruz, PhD, is the most recent scientist to be accorded this honor.
Last year, Luly, at 64, was conferred the rank and title of National Scientist, the highest honor given to a man or woman of science in the Philippines.
Background
Luly finished BS Chemistry at the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 1962, and her MS and PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Iowa, United States, in 1966 and 1968, respectively. She served as research aide in 1962 at the International Rice Research Institute, where she returned after earning her doctorate. She taught as assistant professor at the UP Department of Biochemistry in 1970 and became full professor in 1977.
From 1980 to 1986, Luly served as chair of UP Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. For over 20 years, she also spent one to six months every year as research associate and as research professor in the University of Utah. She is now based at the UP Marine Science Institute.
Toxins from cone snails
I had the pleasure of interviewing Luly in depth for my book “Ten Outstanding Filipino Scientists” a few years back. I remember watching in fascination as she handled deadly cone snails with finesse and nonchalantly explained how their toxins could be used to make useful substances.
Luly established the Rural Livelihood Incubator in 2001 with the help of volunteers and private donors. This aimed to generate employment opportunities and establish a sustainable means of livelihood to counter poverty and socio-political instability in rural areas.
Luly has produced over 120 scientific publications. In 1981, she was one of the recipients of Outstanding Young Scientist award from National Academy of Science and Technology, and she was elected to the Academy in 1986.
NAST lists only 32 National Scientists so far, 11 of them still actively participating in its activities and events of national importance. They are (with year of conferment) Fe Del Mundo (1980), Clara Y. Lim-Sylianco (1994), Dolores A. Ramirez (1998), Jose R. Velasco (1998), Gelia T. Castillo (1999), Bienvenido O. Juliano (2000), Benito S. Vergara (2001), Clare R. Baltazar (2001), Onofre D. Corpuz (2004), Ricardo M. Lantican (2005), and Lourdes J. Cruz (2006).
I thank Aristotle Carandang of NAST for many details about Dr. Cruz’s work. “Ten Outstanding Filipino Scientists” is available in most bookstores. Or call Anvil Publishing at 637-8840 or e-mail at gwenn.galvez@anvilpublishing.com to order a copy.
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Queena N. Lee-Chua, PhD, is professor of math and psychology at the Ateneo de Manila University. Contact her at blessbook@yahoo.com.
A Nasa spacecraft set for launch early next month will explore the two biggest asteroids in the Solar System.
Asteroids are believed to be the building blocks of planets - primordial relics left over from the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.
The Dawn mission will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on 7 July, on a mission to study the asteroids Ceres and Vesta.
Dawn will reach Vesta in 2011 before going on to visit Ceres in 2015.
"Ceres and Vesta have been altered much less than other bodies," said Christopher Russell, the Dawn mission's chief scientist.
"The Earth is changing all the time; the Earth hides its history, but we believe that Ceres and Vesta, formed more than 4.6 billion years ago, have preserved their early record."
Ceres is almost spherical and is thought to harbour a layer of water ice some 60 to 120km (40 to 80 miles) thick beneath its rocky surface.
At a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) last year, Ceres was elevated in status from merely the biggest body in the asteroid belt, to a "dwarf planet" - the same designation now held by Pluto.
While Ceres is a "wet" object, Vesta is devoid of water and appears to have been resurfaced by ancient lava flows.
Dawn will travel to the asteroid belt to carry out a detailed study of their structure and composition, shedding light on their evolution and the conditions in which these objects formed.
The mission's objectives include:
study internal structure and density
determine size, composition, shape and mass
examine surface features and craters
understand the role of water in controlling asteroid evolution
Dawn's instruments include a gamma ray and neutron spectrometer that can detect the hydrogen from water.
Evidence of whether water still exists on Ceres could come from frost or vapour on the surface. There may even be liquid water under the surface.
The water is thought to have kept Ceres cool throughout its evolution. By contrast, Vesta was hot, melted internally and became volcanic early in its development.
Frozen in time
While Ceres remains closer to the ancient state, Vesta evolved further over its first few millions of years of existence.
Dawn is expected to send back high-resolution images of these worlds, including, perhaps, mountains, canyons, craters and ancient lava flows.
The instruments will help identify minerals on the surface and the elements they contain.
"[Ceres and Vesta] are revealing information that was frozen into their ancient surfaces," said Professor Russell, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
"By looking at the surface and how it was modified by the bombardment of meteoroids, we will get an idea of what the early conditions of Ceres and Vesta were and how they changed.
"So Dawn is a history trip too. We're going back in time to the early Solar System."
Dawn is scheduled to fly past Mars by April 2009, and after more than four years of travel, the spacecraft will rendezvous with Vesta in 2011.
The spacecraft will orbit Vesta for about nine months, before setting off in 2012 for a three-year cruise to Ceres.
Dawn will rendezvous with its second target in 2015, to conduct studies for at least five months.
