Atmospheric Sciences Researcher Heads Camera Team On Mars Lander

The Phoenix Lander, a golf-cart-sized spacecraft that has traveled 422 million miles to Mars, is scheduled to gently touchdown Sunday (May 25) at 6:53 p.m. (Central time) and could reveal the deepest secrets of the Red Planet, says a Texas A&M University researcher who is serving as the camera team leader for the project.

Mark Lemmon, associate professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M and a veteran of several Mars exploratory events, says the Phoenix Lander will start doing its job within 30 minutes of touchdown – if all goes well during the very risky landing procedures.

Phoenix will enter the Martian atmosphere at almost 13,000 miles per hour and slowly decrease speed to 1,000 miles per hour, when it will deploy parachutes to slow it down even more. Using rocket thrusters to guide its landing, the craft will slow to about 5 miles per hour just before touchdown – if all goes well.

“Landing is the roughest, trickiest part of the project,” Lemmon says from the University of Arizona , where he and other members of the Phoenix operations team are assembling for Sunday’s big event.

“This is the first landing on Mars relying on rockets to stop the spacecraft in more than 30 years. We are confident, but still concerned.”

About 55 percent of all attempts to land on Mars in the last 30 years have failed due to rough terrain, equipment failures or other problems, he notes, “but those include all attempts. The attempts made by the United States have a better success rate, but it’s still a very tricky maneuver to land there safely.”

Launched on Aug. 4, Phoenix Lander has some big work days ahead of it.

Its first assignment after opening solar arrays and deploying some instruments will be to take photos of itself, making sure that no major structural damage has occurred during landing.

Then within half an hour of landing, it will begin taking its first in a long series of photo shoots of the Martian terrain, including wide panoramic shots of the area, which is the equivalent of northern Canada – land that is tundra-like, with ice just below the surface.

It will also conduct experiments on the Martian soil, using scoopers to dig as much as several feet down, and even drilling if necessary. One unique aspect of the Lander’s test kit: tiny ovens, roughly the size of a matchbox, that will heat the soil to as high as 1,800 degrees to study the soil as it transitions from a solid to a liquid state.

“We think the soil can tell us several key things,” notes the Texas A&M professor.

“First, it will tell us about the composition of the ice, and about Martian water. But it can also tell us about energy sources in the soil and if this soil could support any type of life, either now or millions of years ago.

“We will have the ability to analyze a lot of this information right there on the spot, which means we could have some answers fairly quickly on a lot of big questions.”

Using solar panels for power, Phoenix Lander is expected to have a 90-day lifespan, but could last longer with luck, Lemmon says. But once September and October arrive, the Martian winter will take its toll – Lander will be encased in ice for months at temperatures below minus 110 degrees, not good news for those involved with the $420 million Lander project.

“It’s an exciting mission and one we’re ready to begin,” Lemmon, who has worked extensively with Spirit and Opportunity , the Mars Rovers still active on the planet, says.

“The information we get from the Phoenix Lander could change how we think about Mars.”

For more information about the project, go to http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/ or http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/blogs.php and a video at http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/videos.php .

Contact: Mark Lemmon at (520) 626-4370, (979) 458-8098, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Keith Randall at (979) 845-4644, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .