| Piú viste - From Ashes to Eternity: the Phoenix Mars Mission |
00-PhoenixLiftoff.jpgThe beginning...78 visiteCaption NASA:"Can Mars sustain life? To help answer this question, last week NASA launched the Phoenix Mission to Mars. In May 2008, Phoenix is expected to land in an unexplored North Polar Region of Mars that is rich in water-ice. Although Phoenix cannot move, it can deploy its cameras, robotic arm, and a small chemistry laboratory to inspect, dig, and chemically analyze its landing area. One hope is that Phoenix will be able to discern telling clues to the history of ice and water on Mars. Phoenix is also poised to explore the boundary between ice and soil in hopes of finding clues of a habitable zone there that could support microbial life.
Phoenix has a planned lifetime of 3 months on the Martian surface".MareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL017-lg_4867.jpgParticles of Soil on Silicone - Sol 17 (1 - credits: NASA/Univ. of Arizona)78 visiteNew observations from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander provide the most magnified view ever seen of Martian Soil, showing particles clumping together even at the smallest visible scale.
In the past two days, two instruments on the lander deck -- a microscope and a bake-and-sniff analyzer -- have begun inspecting soil samples delivered by the scoop on Phoenix's Robotic Arm.
"This is the first time since the Viking missions three decades ago that a sample is being studied inside an instrument on Mars," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Stickiness of the soil at the Phoenix site has presented challenges for delivering samples, but also presents scientific opportunities. "Understanding the soil is a major goal of this mission and the soil is a bit different than we expected," Smith said. "There could be real discoveries to come as we analyze this soil with our various instruments. We have just the right instruments for the job".
Images from Phoenix's Optical Microscope show nearly 1,000 separate soil particles, down to sizes smaller than one-tenth the diameter of a human hair. At least four distinct minerals are seen.
"It's been more than 11 years since we had the idea to send a microscope to Mars and I'm absolutely gobsmacked that we're now looking at the soil of Mars at a resolution that has never been seen before," said Tom Pike of Imperial College London. He is a Phoenix co-investigator working on the lander's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer.
The sample includes some larger, black, glassy particles as well as smaller reddish ones. "We may be looking at a history of the soil," said Pike. "It appears that original particles of Volcanic Glass have weathered down to smaller particles with higher concentration of Iron".
The fine particles in the soil sample closely resemble particles of airborne dust examined earlier by the microscope.
Atmospheric dust at the Phoenix site has remained about the same day-to-day so far, said Phoenix co-investigator and atmospheric scientist Nilton Renno of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. MareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL134-lg39407-39408-39409-3.jpgThe Little (Man-Made) Mound near Phoenix: perspective View - Sol 134 (Superdefinition and possible True Colors; credits: Dr G. Barca)78 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL017-lg_4869.jpgParticles of Soil on Silicone - Sol 17 (2 - credits: NASA/Univ. of Arizona)77 visite"We've seen no major dust clouds at the landing site during the mission so far," Renno said. "That's not a surprise because we landed when dust activity is at a minimum. But we expect to see big dust storms at the end of the mission. Some of us will be very excited to see some of those dust storms reach the lander".
Studying dust on Mars helps scientists understand atmospheric dust on Earth, which is important because dust is a significant factor in global climate change.
"We've learned there is well-mixed dust in the Martian Atmosphere, much more mixed than on Earth, and that's a surprise," Renno said. Rather than particles settling into dust layers, strong turbulence mixes them uniformly from the surface to a few kilometers above the surface.
Scientists spoke at a news briefing today at the University of Arizona, where new color views of the spacecraft's surroundings were shown.
"We are taking a high-quality, 360-degree look at all of Mars that we can see from our landing site in color and stereo," said Mark Lemmon, Surface Stereo Imager lead from Texas A&M University, College Station.
"These images are important to provide the context of where the lander is on the surface. The panorama also allows us to look beyond our workspace to see how the polygon structures connect with the rest of the area. We can identify interesting things beyond our reach and then use the camera's filters to investigate their properties from afar".MareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL017-lg4298-4299-4300.jpgSolar Panels and surroundings - Sol 17 (Natural Colors; credits: Dr G. Barca)76 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL103-PIA11075.jpgAnother "Pointless Point of View"... (natural colors? credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University )76 visiteUn "punto di vista" ricorrente (e cioè già visto e stravisto); un "colore" tanto assurdo quanto improbabile (al punto che neppure la NASA se l'è sentita di definirlo in qualche modo). Un "frame classico", quindi...
Caption NASA:"The informally named "Snow White" trench is the source for the next sample to be acquired by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander for analysis by the Wet Chemistry Lab.
The Surface Stereo Imager on Phoenix took this shadow-enhanced image of the trench, on the eastern end of Phoenix's work area, on Sol 103, or the 103rd day of the mission, such as Sept. 8, 2008. The trench is about 23 cm (9") wide.
The Wet Chemistry Lab is part of Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity suite of instruments".MareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL104-PIA11154.jpgVastitas' Dust Devils - Sol 10476 visiteThe Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander caught this DD in action West-South/West of the Lander at 11:16 M.L.T. on Sol 104, such as Sept., 9, 2008.
Dust Devils (a.k.a. "DD") have not been detected in any Phoenix images from earlier in the Mission, but at least 6 were observed in a dozen images taken on Sol 104.
DD are whirlwinds that often occur when the Sun heats the surface of Mars, or some areas on Earth. The warmed surface heats the layer of atmosphere closest to it, and the warm air rises in a whirling motion, stirring dust up from the surface like a miniature tornado. The DD visible in the center of this image just below the horizon is estimated to be about 400 meters (about 1300 feet) from Phoenix, and 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter. It is much smaller than DD that have been observed by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit much closer to the Equator. It is closer in size to DD seen from orbit in the Phoenix landing region, though still smaller than those.
The image has been enhanced to make the dust devil easier to see.
MareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL103-PIA11152-GIF.gifWinds... - Sol 103 (GIF-Movie; credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University )76 visiteNASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's "Telltale" (such as the anemomether) catches a breeze as clouds move over the Landing Site on Sol 103 (such as Sept. 7, 2008), the 103rd Martian day since landing.
Phoenix's Surface Stereo Imager took this series of images during daily Telltale monitoring around 15:00 M.L.T. and captured the clouds moving over the Landing Site.
Phoenix can measure wind speed and direction by imaging the Telltale, which is about about 10 cm (approx. 4") tall. The Telltale was built by the University of Aarhus, Denmark.MareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL113-MF.jpgUnder the Lander... - Sol 113 (false colors; credits: Dr M. Faccin)76 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL011-PIA10773.jpgArtificially illuminated Martian Soil - Sol 1175 visiteAvevamo visto giusto, quindi: quando il terriccio di Vastitas appare di una colorazione simile (giallo-arancio, arancio mattone ed arancio vivo) è perchè il "gruppo luce" di Phoenix sta lavorando. Leggete il commento NASA al riguardo:"NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander scooped up this Martian Soil on the mission's 11th Sol after landing (June 5, 2008) as the first soil sample for delivery to the laboratory on the lander deck.
The material includes a light-toned clod possibly from crusted surface of the ground, similar in appearance to clods observed near a foot of the Lander.
This approximately true-color view of the contents of the scoop on the Robotic Arm comes from combining separate images taken by the Robotic Arm Camera on Sol 11, using illumination by red, green and blue light-emitting diodes on the camera.
The scoop loaded with this sample was poised over an open sample-delivery door of Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer at the end of Sol 11, ready to be dumped into the instrument on the next Sol".MareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL074-MF1.jpgNuances... - Sol 74 (True Colors; credits: Dr M. Faccin)75 visiteTutte le sfumature ("macchie" incluse...) che l'inspiegabile color-processing della NASA lava via, ecco che riappaiono nella splendida elaborazione realizzata dall'eccezionale Dr Faccin.
E se qualcuno volesse ipotizzare sul motivo per cui tutte le gradazioni di colore proprie della superficie di Vastitas vengono "oscurate" (pardon: volevamo dire "tinteggiate di rosa ed ocra"), noi siamo tutto orecchi...MareKromium
|
|
PHOE-SOL070-2.jpgIcy Surface and rocks (or "chunks" of ice) - Sol 70 (Superdefiniiton; credits: Dr G. Barca)74 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
|
|
| 403 immagini su 34 pagina(e) |
 |
3 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
