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

[lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu]

Hello Martin:

But there are several reasons for going there:

1. You actually know where the sample came from (not true for the meteorite).

2. To get a meteorite takes a little energy, so "stuff happens" to a Mars
rock that does not happen to a pristine soil sample on Mars.

3. If you are looking for water (or water ice or carbon dioxide ice) as
part of an initial search for life on Mars, again, you need to know where
your sample has come from and that it has not been bashed by an impact,
been in space for a few million years, gone through Earth's atmosphere,
and then sat on Earth for some unknown length of time.

Ideally, you want to get samples from a number of places and bring them
back to Earth, but that gets a little more expensive. And you are up
against ICAMSR (International Committee against Mars Sample Return) (those
Mars bugs are going to get you).

For your information, the Mars rovers cost just over $800 million (build a
second for about half the cost of one). The "next generation" Mars lander,
Mars Science Laboratory, is running $1.2 billion (20% over budget) and
behind schedule. This is problem since nothing can be done to get Mars to
wait for the Lab to get launched. If it cannot be launched on time, there
is a delay of something like 18 months for the next opportunity.


In this respect, Phoenix is cheap.

Larry

On Wed, June 18, 2008 8:57 am, Martin Altmann wrote:
>

> Hmm Sterling,
>
>
> assumed that I'm not so intelligent, I have a question, which is
> bothering me:  aside from the achievements and recoveries such a mission
> like the Phoenix lander means,
> I wonder - well how shall I say - but given the $386,000,000 and not to
> mention, what for means a successful sample-return-mission would consume
> -
> I wonder why NASA is not interested in baking Martian soils and rocks from
>  many different places on Mars in terrestrial ovens for let's say $30,000
> or something around that sum, (Hey NASA has an   a n n u a l   budget of
> $17,000,000,000
> All SNCs found so far would cost, let's say
> $40,000,000
> to make all happy) and I wonder whether the American taxpayer would agree
> more to such an expense.
>
> Strange in my blear eyes is too, that ESA is sending out employees to far
>  corners of the World, to collect terrestrial analogs to Martian rocks to
>  analyse and research them, but on the other hand they have no reference
> collection of Martian meteorites to work on, although such a collection
> currently would cost them less, then the plane tickets for the guys sent
> to collect Martian look-a-likes.
>
> In my naïve point of view, I was thinking, that it could be a fundamental
>  and elemental building block of scientific exploration of Planet Mars to
>  investigate that matter, those rocks from there, we already have here on
>  Earth?
> (as told, maybe I'm to stupid.. but on the other hand, perhaps the quality
>  of the training and schooling of those guys at NASA, IAXA, ESA had a few
>  gaps, so that they simply don't know, that we already do have some
> Martian
> rocks here on Earth? At least I think it is problematical to propagate the
>  scientific mandate of these organizations to explore Planet Mars and the
>  necessity of those hefty expenses, but to neglect that simple and
> cost-efficient, but nevertheless very important domain of researching the
>  Martian meteorites - it isn't plausible to public in no way, happily
> most of the taxpayers don't know, that there exist meteorites from Mars,
> hehe).
>
> See you all in Ensiheim!
> Martin
>
>
>
>
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von
> Sterling
> K. Webb
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 18. Juni 2008 08:52
> An: Pete Shugar; Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com; mexicodoug at aim.com
> Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample,Arm Digs
> Deeper
>
>
> Hi, Pete, List,
>
>
> This mission was named Phoenix in recognition
> of the fact that like the mythical Phoenix, it rose from the ashes of the
> dead! Once upon a time, there were two Mars missions that died: the 2001
> Mars Surveyor
> lander was cancelled in 2000, and the Mars Polar Lander was lost on Mars in
> 1999.
>
>
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