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Phoenix-B landed
Posted Saturday, July 5, 2008
On 06:23:29 UT this Sunday, the Phoenix-B made a soft landing on the surface of Mars. The entry was completely nominal, and the spacecraft landed about 180km north of it's aiming point near the North Pole of the red planet. The success of this mission is a great boost for the manned exploration of Mars, as it tested out a number of technical concepts that will be used for the manned missions to Mars as well.
The Phoenix-B will spend the next few months sampling and testing soil samples as well as monitor the weather in the polar region.
Phoenix-B to land on July 06
Posted Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The Phoenix-B probe is still orbiting Mars and awaiting the deorbit signal. This deorbit order will be given on July 05 and will result in a burn around 18:00 UTC lowering the minimum altitude on the next Mars flyby to about 20 kilometers. This will trigger the landing of the Phoenix-B around 06:20 UTC on the next day. Stay tuned to SimNASA Live for pictures of the approach and landing this weekend.
MRO ready to start observations
Posted Sunday, June 15, 2008
In the last few days, four major burns and two RCS corrections have positioned the MRO in the proper orbit around Mars. Later today the orbiter will be commanded to deploy its radar antenna and will then be ready for action. The first few weeks will be used to calibrate the instruments. On July 1st the orbiter will start a two year mission of systematically mapping the entire red planet. In the meantime it will also function as a communications relay station for other probes at Mars.
The Phoenix-B lander has been seperated from the Centaur stage this wweekend and is now operating on its own power. Next week it will perform some maneuvres to set it up correctly for the landing on the surface at the intended coordinates. There is no time & date fixed for that landing at this moment, but it will be announced in time.
Phoenix-B in Mars Orbit
Posted Tuesday, June 10, 2008
On June 5th the Centaur stage depleted its last fuel sending the Phoenix-B mission in a closed orbit around the planet Mars. The engine shut down because of fuel depletion shortly before the targeted orbit was reached, but the achieved orbital parameters are so close the it poses no problem at all for the mission.
Shortly after capture, the Mars Recon Observer (MRO) was released from the Centaur stack and unfolded its antenna and solar panels. After a 24 hour charging period, a systems and communications test has been performed with flawless results.
On Monday 9 June the MRO's main thrusters were fired for the first time for no less then 12 minutes, increasing its inclination to a near polar 87.5 degrees. On tuesday another 12 minute burn was made in a retrograde direction to lower the orbit's eccentricity to 0.5. The MRO is presently in a 250 x 7500 km orbit. Two more burns are planned to place it in a near-circular orbit. After the MRO has reached its proper orbit and is operational, the deployment of the second Phoenix lander - now still attached to the Centaur stage - will be started.
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