JAXA Press Release
Representatives of 11 space agencies from around the world gathered in Montreal, Canada July 10 - 12 to continue the coordination of programs to extend human and robotic presence throughout the Solar System.
In May 2007, multilateral space agency discussions resulted in the release of “The Global Exploration Strategy - The Framework for Coordination.” This “framework document” - the product of a shared vision of space exploration focused on solar system destinations where humans may someday live and work - represented an important first step in coordinating space exploration efforts toward common goals. The Framework Document envisioned a coordination mechanism to facilitate international planning, leading to the establishment of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG).
During the Montreal ISECG meeting which was hosted by the Canadian Space Agency, the participating agencies made significant progress in a number of areas that will facilitate cooperation. Among accomplishments were the establishment of an ISECG secretariat, that will be initially hosted by ESA, plans for conducting effective public engagement, and development of tools for sharing information on exploration capabilities and mission plans across agencies.
Continue reading ‘Space Agencies Meet in Montreal to Coordinate Space Exploration Plans’
Credit: ESA
ESA News Release
The first robotic mission to return samples to Earth from Mars took a further step toward realisation with the recent publication of a mission design report by the iMARS Working Group. The report, defines key elements of the future internationally-funded mission involving the cooperation of ESA, NASA and other national agencies.
iMARS, which stands for the International Mars Architecture for the Return of Samples is a committee of the International Mars Exploration Working Group made up of scientists, engineers, strategic planners, and managers. The report, which comes after months of deliberation, outlines the scientific and engineering requirements of such an international mission to be undertaken in the timeframe 2020-2022.
The Mars Sample Return mission is an essential step with respect to future exploration goals and the prospect of establishing a future human mission to Mars. Returned samples will increase the knowledge of the properties of Martian soil and contribute significantly to answering questions about the possibility of life on the Red Planet. This mission will improve our understanding of the Mars environment to support planning for the future human exploration.
NASA MISSION UPDATE
8 July 2008
NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander’s science and engineering teams are testing methods to get an icy sample into the Robotic Arm scoop for delivery to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA).
Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, Phoenix’s “dig czar,” said the hard Martian surface that Phoenix has reached proved to be a difficult target, comparing the process to scraping a sidewalk.
“We have three tools on the scoop to help access ice and icy soil,” Arvidson said. “We can scoop material with the backhoe using the front titanium blade; we can scrape the surface with the tungsten carbide secondary blade on the bottom of the scoop; and we can use a high-speed rasp that comes out of a slot at the back of the scoop.”
“We expected ice and icy soil to be very strong because of the cold temperatures. It certainly looks like this is the case and we are getting ready to use the rasp to generate the fine icy soil and ice particles needed for delivery to TEGA,” he said.
Continue reading ‘Phoenix Tests Methods to Get Icy Sample’
NASA MISSION UPDATE
26 June 2008
NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander performed its first wet chemistry experiment on Martian soil flawlessly yesterday, returning a wealth of data that for Phoenix scientists was like winning the lottery.
“We are awash in chemistry data,” said Michael Hecht of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, instrument on Phoenix. “We’re trying to understand what is the chemistry of wet soil on Mars, what’s dissolved in it, how acidic or alkaline it is. With the results we received from Phoenix yesterday, we could begin to tell what aspects of the soil might support life.”
“This is the first wet-chemical analysis ever done on Mars or any planet, other than Earth,” said Phoenix co-investigator Sam Kounaves of Tufts University, science lead for the wet chemistry investigation.
About 80 percent of Phoenix’s first, two-day wet chemistry experiment is now complete. Phoenix has three more wet-chemistry cells for use later in the mission.
Continue reading ‘Phoenix Update: Scientists OD on Chemical Data’
NASA MISSION UPDATE
NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander began digging in an area called “Wonderland” early Tuesday, taking its first scoop of soil from a polygonal surface feature within the “national park” region that mission scientists have been preserving for science.
The lander’s Robotic Arm created the new test trench called “Snow White” on June 17, the 22nd Martian day, or sol, after the Phoenix spacecraft landed on May 25. Newly planned science activities will resume no earlier than Sol 24 as engineers look into how the spacecraft is handling larger than expected amounts of data.
During Tuesday’s dig, the arm didn’t reach the hard white material, possibly ice, that Phoenix exposed previously in the first trench it dug into the Martian soil.
Continue reading ‘Mars Update: Phoenix Joins Alice in “Wonderland”’
ODYSSEY MOON PRESS RELEASE
Washington, DC – Odyssey Moon, a commercial lunar enterprise, announced today that former NASA Associate Administrator Dr. Alan Stern has accepted a role with the Isle of Man-based company. Dr. Stern was a recognized engine of change and innovation as chief of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, championing new science programs while being a stalwart advocate of cost and value control when he served at NASA.
Dr. Stern has joined the Odyssey Moon executive team on an exclusive part time consulting basis as the company’s Science Mission Director, part of a new diversified career focus spanning many of his lifelong interests and activities. He expects that his blended understanding of science and business will help Odyssey Moon establish a commercial lunar business while pursuing the $30 Million Google Lunar X PRIZE. “I am a fan of public-private partnerships and building bridges to new markets,” he said. “I believe we are on the verge of a whole new era of space exploration and that the private sector can provide reliable cost effective services that can increase the value and leverage government space budgets.”
A veteran of space exploration with over 25 year experience, Stern’s alliance with the private space sector comes at a critical time when NASA and other space agencies are looking carefully at the value proposition in partnering with the commercial sector for space activities.
Continue reading ‘Former NASA AA Alan Stern Joins Google Lunar X Prize Team Odyssey Moon’
NASA MISSION UPDATE
NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander sprinkled a spoonful of Martian soil Wednesday onto the sample wheel of the spacecraft’s robotic microscope station, images received early Thursday confirmed.
“It looks like a light dusting and that’s just what we wanted. The Robotic Arm team did a great job,” said Michael Hecht of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. He is the lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) instrument on Phoenix.
The delivery of scooped-up soil for inspection by the lander’s Optical Microscope, a component of MECA, marks the second success in consecutive days for getting samples delivered to laboratory instruments on Phoenix’s deck. Some soil from an earlier scoopful reached a tiny oven in another instrument on Tuesday, as confirmed in data received early Wednesday. That instrument is the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. Commands being sent to Phoenix today include instructions to close TEGA oven number 4 and begin analyzing the sample inside, a process that will take several days.
Continue reading ‘Mars Update: Phoenix Sprinkles Soil for Microscopic Analysis’
NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander’s Surface Stereo Imager took this image on Sol 14 (June 8, 2008), the 14th Martian day after landing. It shows two trenches dug by Phoenix’s Robotic Arm. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University
NASA MISSION UPDATE
NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has filled its first oven with Martian soil.
“We have an oven full,” Phoenix co-investigator Bill Boynton of the University of Arizona, Tucson, said today. “It took 10 seconds to fill the oven. The ground moved.”
Boynton leads the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument, or TEGA, for Phoenix. The instrument has eight separate tiny ovens to bake and sniff the soil to assess its volatile ingredients, such as water.
The lander’s Robotic Arm delivered a partial scoopful of clumpy soil from a trench informally called “Baby Bear” to the number 4 oven on TEGA last Friday, June 6, which was 12 days after landing.
Continue reading ‘Mars Update: Phoenix Has Oven Full of Soil’
This image shows a 3 millimeter (0.12 inch) diameter silicone target after it has been exposed to dust kicked up by the landing. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
NASA PRESS RELEASE
TUCSON, Ariz. — A microscope on NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander has taken images of dust and sand particles with the greatest resolution ever returned from another planet.
The mission’s Optical Microscope observed particles that had fallen onto an exposed surface, revealing grains as small as one-tenth the diameter of a human hair.
“We have images showing the diversity of mineralogy on Mars at a scale that is unprecedented in planetary exploration,” said Michael Hecht of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. He is the lead scientist for Phoenix’s Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) instrument suite.
Meanwhile, Phoenix received commands Thursday to collect its first soil sample to be delivered to a laboratory instrument on the lander deck. Commands for that same activity sent on Wednesday did not reach Phoenix because the orbiter intended for relaying the transmission, NASA’s Mars Odyssey, had put itself into a safe standby mode shortly before the commands would have reached Odyssey.
Continue reading ‘Mars: Yep, it’s Dusty, All Right!’
NASA MISSION UPDATE
One week after landing on far-northern Mars, NASA Phoenix spacecraft lifted its first scoop of Martian soil as a test of the lander’s Robotic Arm.
The practice scoop was emptied onto a designated dump area on the ground after the Robotic Arm Camera photographed the soil inside the scoop. The Phoenix team plans to have the arm deliver its next scoopful, later this week, to an instrument that heats and sniffs the sample to identify ingredients.
A glint of bright material appears in the scooped up soil and in the hole from which it came. “That bright material might be ice or salt. We’re eager to do testing of the next three surface samples collected nearby to learn more about it,” said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, Phoenix co-investigator for the Robotic Arm.
The camera on the arm examined the lander’s first scoop of Martian soil. “The camera has its own red, green and blue lights, and we combine separate images taken with different illumination to create color images,” said the University of Arizona’s Pat Woida, senior engineer on the Phoenix team.