Phoenix to Launch Next Week
One of the benefits of living in Orlando is that we are only a 45-minute drive to Cocoa Beach and prime public viewing of launch sites at Kennedy Space Center and Canaveral Air Force Station. Our first opportunity (since moving back here; I witnessed many shuttle launches and a few Apollo launches in my first Florida life which ended in 1985) comes with the scheduled launch next week of the Phoenix mission to Mars. I have a couple of interests in the launch: the first is that it’s a cool mission in more ways than one. Phoenix’s destination is the northern polar region of Mars, around 70 degrees north latitude, where water and carbon dioxide ice intermingle with the martian soil. While not mobile, Phoenix will use a robotic arm to dig a few inches into the ground and examine samples of the soil for the content of ice and carbon compounds. The second is that for the few days after launch Phoenix will (deservedly) be getting the lion’s share of data downlink through the Deep Space Network as it gets set for cruise to Mars. That means other missions, like my personal favorite, Cassini, will have to make do with less data downlink. This is known and planned for, but what we don’t know is if Phoenix will launch on time or not. The last week or so, Cassini operations planners have been drawing up contingency plans for what observations will be cut in the event the launch of Phoenix is delayed by one, two, or three days.
At any rate, I’ve never seen a Delta II launch, and this one is before dawn, offering the prospect of a nice nighttime launch followed by sunrise over the Atlantic. Phoenix will arrive at Mars next May 25 and will proceed directly to landing, via the old-fashioned retro-rocket method instead of bouncy airbags. The nominal mission is 150 Martian days (similar to that of the rovers, which have far outlasted warranty, but are now suffering from dust deposition on their solar panels). Phoenix, at high northern latitudes, will have a hard time lasting much longer than advertised once Mars enters northern winter, although that won’t be until well into 2009.