[meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs Deeper

[Mike Bandli]

Hi Pete,

Unfortunately, all eight of the ovens cannot be emptied or re-used for other
tests. I believe I remember hearing it had something to do with saving
weight on the craft.

Best,

Mike Bandli
 

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Pete
Shugar
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 12:40 PM
To: Ron Baalke; Meteorite Mailing List
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample,Arm Digs
Deeper

My question is:
If there are only 8 ovens on the Lander, what happens when they are 
all full? Is there a provision to dump the ovens and reuse them?
Pete

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 12:54 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs Deeper


> 
> http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-111b
> 
> NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample, Arm Digs Deeper
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory
> June 16, 2008
> 
> TUCSON, Ariz. -- One of the ovens on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander
> continued baking its first sample of Martian soil over the weekend,
> while the Robotic Arm dug deeper into the soil to learn more about white
> material first revealed on June 3.
> 
> "The oven is working very well and living up to our expectations," said
> Phoenix co-investigator Bill Boynton of the University of Arizona,
> Tucson. Boynton leads the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA), or
> oven instrument, for Phoenix.
> 
> Phoenix has eight separate tiny ovens to bake and sniff the soil and
> look for volatile ingredients, such as water. This baking is performed
> at three different temperature ranges.
> 
> On Sol 18 (June 12), the lander's Robotic Arm dug deeper into the two
> trenches, informally called "Dodo" and "Goldilocks," where white
> material was previously found. This created one large trench, now called
> "Dodo-Goldilocks."
> 
> "We have continued to excavate in the Dodo-Goldilocks trench to expose
> more of the light-toned material, and we will monitor the site," said
> Robotic Arm lead scientist Ray Arvidson of the University of Washington,
> St. Louis. "If the material is ice, it should change with time. Frost
> may form on it, or it could slowly sublimate." Sublimation is the
> process where a solid changes directly into gas.
> 
> The Dodo-Goldilocks trench is 22 centimeters wide (8.7 inches) and 35
> centimeters long (13.8 inches). The trench is seven to eight centimeters
> (2.7 to 3 inches) deep at its deepest. The deepest portion is closest to
> the lander.
> 
> The white material is located only at the shallowest part of the trench,
> farthest from the lander, indicating that it is not continuous
> throughout the excavated site. The trench might be exposing a ledge, or
> only a portion of a slab, of the white material, according to scientists.
> 
> The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith with project management at JPL
> and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in Denver.
> International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the
> University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and
> Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish
> Meteorological Institute. For more about Phoenix, visit:
> http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Media contacts: Guy Webster 818-354-6278
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
> guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov
> 
> Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
> NASA Headquarters, Washington
> dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov
> 
> Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
> University of Arizona, Tucson
> shammond at lpl.arizona.edu
> 
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