NASA to extend the Phoenix probe mission by 5 weeks

Friday, August 1, 2008

The Phoenix probe that was sent to Mars has had its mission extended. Part of Phoenix's mission was to chemically analyze soil samples, and to confirm the presence of water ice. The ice was confirmed by the use of an instrument that can identify vapours; a small sample of ice within Martian soil was heated until it melted at 0°C (32°F), the melting point for water.

The original mission was planned to be funded for a 3 months, with the cutoff in late August. However, as a result of the probe's good condition, NASA has stated that its mission will be extended by 5 weeks, till September 30.

"Phoenix is healthy and the projections for solar power look good, so we want to take full advantage of having this resource in one of the most interesting locations on Mars," said the Head of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, Michael Meyers. An additional expense of US$2 million will be incurred because of the extension, on top of the US$420 million that has already been spent. This will allow for two more trenches to be dug, which will be dubbed as "Cupboard" and "Neverland".

The Phoenix probe landed on Mars on May 25 of this year near the north pole of Mars, where the ice was discovered. The ice was found in a trench approximately 5cm deep referred to as "Snow White". "It's been very successful and Mars had proven itself to be very interesting, mechanically the spacecraft is operating great, and there's plenty of power margin to carry us beyond the waning summer," said Meyers.

The original goal of the mission was to determine if the red planet was capable of supporting life. Phoenix is in the process of performing experiments to determine if ice ever melted in Mars' history. In addition it is searching for the organic-based compounds that are necessary for life forms to exist.

Phoenix's principal investigator Peter Smith told the press conference that "we hope to be able to answer the question of whether this was a habitable zone on Mars. It will be for future missions to find if anyone is home on this environment."

Unlike the twin Mars Exploration Rovers which has now been operating on Mars for several years, the Phoenix Lander itself is expected to cease operations entirely by the exit of 2008 when the harsh Martian polar winter takes over and the low temperatures most likely will leave the Lander's instruments irreparably damaged.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Related news

"Phoenix lander confirms presence of water ice on Mars" — Wikinews, June 23, 2008
"NASA: White substance photographed by Phoenix lander on Mars 'must have been ice'" — Wikinews, June 20, 2008

Sources

"NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended" — NASA, July 31, 2008
Alicia Chang. "NASA confirms water on Mars" — The Associated Press, July 31, 2008
"NASA probe confirms water on Mars" — Agence France-Presse, July 31, 2008
James Randerson. "Nasa probe finds water ice on Mars" — The Guardian, July 31, 2008
Jill Serjeant. "NASA says Mars craft 'touched and tasted' water" — Reuters, July 31, 2008
Leonard David. "Phoenix Lander Readied For Mars Exploration" — Space.com, February 1, 2007

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License