Phoenix Prepares to Unload Robotic Arm on 2nd Shot
“These images are very exciting to the science team,” said the Surface Stereo Imager co-investigator Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University. “We see the polygons we’re looking for, and we’re very excited to fill in the context with more site pan images that go beyond the workspace.” Images to complete the panorama are planned today and tomorrow, Sols 3 and 4, Lemmon said.
Once the Phoenix had landed on Mars, a high priority once the safe landing had occurred was to prepare its robotic area to begin delivering samples of the Martian icy terrain to mission scientists for a study of the environment. On Tuesday morning commands were sent to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Phoenix to move the arm, but the commands were not relayed. So the activities were moved to the following day, on Wednesday.
The mission scientists from the Universe of Arizona, who were leading NASA’s Phoenix Mars mission, successfully sent commands to the Phoenix to unstow its robotic arm in order to take more images of its landing site. When the images began to be downloaded by the Phoenix’s Surface Stereo Imager, the imaging scientists began to prepare a colored mosaic of the images. About one-third finished, the panorama shows a view from Phoenix lander which reaches to the horizon.
When taking the images, the Phoenix automatically adjusts its color vision with “Caltargets”. These are colored targets that are calibrated on special disks mounted on the landing deck—with the images appearing close to human color vision. The area that the Phoenix landed at appears to have access to digging down a polygon trough the “long way”. What will need to be done is digging across the trough, and then into the center of a polygon.
The landing site has been dedicated as the “First National Park System on Mars” –in actually a KEEP OUT zone until the mission managers figure out how to utilize the area as a natural Martian resource. The Phoenix will also be digging in another area seen in the panorama, an area outside the preserved polygon. Robotic arm manager Bob Bonitz of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., explained how the arm was unstowed. “It’s a series of seven moves, beginning with rotating the wrist to release the forearm from its launch restraint. Another series of moves releases the elbow from its launch restraints and moves the elbow from underneath the biobarrier.”
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 7:49 am and is filed under Mission Objectives, Space Agency News, The Gear to Get There. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
