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#1 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-27 06:23:59

Were the decks covered by the stored solar panels? Is that why there's no dust. It's either that or this is all taking place in a Hollywood studio.  lol

I (vaguely) recall the first media conference where the Lockheed Martin PM said that they were very happy (and surprised) that there was no dust on the solar panels nor the platform

#2 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-25 05:14:30

... sharing it here (I spammed it in IRC channels I'm in btw). smile

Yes please feel free to spread the word ... it's meant to be seen after all!
Daniel

#3 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-25 03:41:58

Whats our post landing life span?

31 hours if both solar panels fail to extend ... let's hope that wont happen!

#4 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-23 23:59:22

Announcement for those following the Phoenix Real-Time Simulation at http://www.dmuller.net/phoenix
Just in case anything goes wrong with the server, there is a backup / mirror site of the script at http://www.dmuller.com/phoenix
Enjoy watching the landing! Daniel

#5 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-22 18:09:13

Two additional events for your diaries (all in UTC)
21:48:30 (SCET) - 22:03:50 (ERT): Phoenix passes Deimos orbit
22:59:30 (SCET) - 23:14:50 (ERT): Phoenix passes Phobos orbit
this compares to
23:31:13 (SCET) - 23:46:33 (ERT): Entry Interface.

Also have a look at the beautiful landing geometry at the Planetary Society blog http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001436/. I'll volunteer to be the first traffic policeman on Mars  8)

#6 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-21 18:45:49

With 4 days to landing, and after 3,700 website visits (a lot for a website of mine) I can announce that the final version of the real-time simulation is now online at http://www.dmuller.net/phoenix. I do not intend to make further changes unless the entry interface and/or nominal landing times change "significantly". Such changes can be made as late as just after TCM 6. Some important information:

Download Speed: I would expect the simulation to take longer to load on May 25. At the moment, all position data is correct on an hourly basis and interpolated in between, but soon this will change to a minute-by-minute basis and requires more data to be loaded into the simulation. Starting from about 30 minutes before landing, all the remaining trajectory information will be loaded into the script when it does its auto-reload, or is accessed for the first time. This may take a while longer than usual, but avoids having to reload the script during the crucial EDL phase. Be patient :-)

Mirror Site: In case anything goes pear-shaped, the simulation is also running at http://www.dmuller.com/phoenix. You can use this site if the main page goes down or becomes too slow. I will not be able to attend to the script or server issues in the last 24 hours before landing as I wont be home, and the server sits in the US where there is a long weekend. On that note: could anybody record the NASA TV feed for me (preferably the one without commentary) ... I'll paypal for postage etc?

Beyond Phoenix: given the interest in the script and feedback I have received, I will create similar scripts in due course. However, I do need to catch up on my "proper", space-unrelated :-( work a bit before continuing (as a freelancer it's easy to 'scale back' work for other more interesting activities, but unfortunately the bank account starts to hurt a month later ...). Top of the list will be New Horizons (because I like that mission) and Messenger (for the upcoming Mercury flyby 2). Updates will be posted to where the Phoenix script sits at the moment. I will also look into creating a spaceflight (& related) outreach online library, so if anybody has any suggestions, you know where to find me.

7.5 million km to go. Good luck Phoenix, we're all waiting to hear from you from the surface of Mars.

Go, Phoenix!


Daniel

#7 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-15 19:28:19

Meanwhile, the following animation has been put up at http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/videos.php#edl_hud, very impressive:

Phoenix EDL Animation - This animation featuring a heads-up display shows second-by second the entry, descent and landing of the Phoenix Mars Lander on May 25, 2008. The animation was created by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Solar System Visualization Project.
Low Bandwidth English Units (5.7 MB)
Low Bandwidth Metric Units (5.7 MB)
High Bandwidth English Units (47.3 MB)
High Bandwidth Metric Units (42.9 MB)

Now all that's missing is a second craft filming Phoenix during its landing and broadcasting live on HDTV  roll

Daniel

#8 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-08 06:30:49

The time between Entry Interface and Landing seems to have shrunk from 470 secs (graph) to 440 secs based on the entry interface and nominal landing time that I've been given. I have taken my events from that chart and adjusted for the 30 sec difference.

The time between "lander separation" and "throttle up" seems particularly scary. Phoenix will be in freefall, albeit for 3 secs only, but with only about 500m altitude (5 secs of flight) to spare.

#9 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-08 05:47:14

well it scrolls through the timeline ... added NASA TV coverage as events, hence you dont see too much down the timeline. Dont worry, it's all there ... done a test run and that neatly landed on time and on the spot  big_smile

Do I need to post the full timeline or can we wait for the event to acually occur?  lol

This time around I guess I wont be in the irc chat if I can make it to the Canberra DSN

Daniel

#10 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-08 04:07:32

Thanks spacenut for the welcome!

Some news to share: The Phoenix real-time simulation at http://www.dmuller.net/phoenix now has both Spacecraft Event Time and Earth Received Time. ERT hasnt been tested as much as the SCET version yet, so it may uncover some hiccups but I hope that wont be the case.

Also, for those planning to watch the landing live on the internet, I have received the following message from JPL:

There will be two types of programming streamed from mission control. A version with commentary and interviews mixed in will begin at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time, on NASA TV's "Public" channel.  A plain version without commentary (the way TV news editors generally prefer) will begin at 3 p.m. on NASA TV's "Media" channels.  Both channels can be viewed online at www.nasa.gov/ntv.

cIclops:

Maybe it's the additive delay of the next relay pass plus the time it takes the relay to see the DSN again, because Mars will have rotated about 30°

now that makes sense!

What's the first signal Canberra should see?

I wouldnt have a clue. Havent found anything on the net that is as detailed as that.


Daniel

#11 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-07 03:59:08

Thanks. ERT would be very helpful.

Will advise once it's up ...

2:40 hours plus after landing!

It does seem a bit odd to me. The way it looks to me is that by then it will be night time at the lander site, but I guess I'm missing something big there

Does Canberra have the honor of receiving EDL or the first image data?

EDL goes through Goldstone. Canberra comes into line of sight (of the relaying spacecrafts) just after landing and will hopefully carry the first image.

#12 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-06 12:54:20

Are those simulation times Earth receive time?

All times on the real-time simulation for now are spacecraft event time (SCET). Add 920 seconds to get Earth Received Time (ERT). An ERT version of the simulation should be up soon.

I've been told that Phoenix will send near real-time engineering data and first image due 2 hrs 40 minutes after landing. Likely all data through MEX / MRO / ODY since landing is just on the Earth terminator. With three monitoring crafts aloft there shouldnt be too many gaps in the coverage, I hope (dont they have orbital periods of 2 hours or so each?)

But yes plenty of opportunities to go blue. The first one at 6 hours to entry interface when my alarm clock rings at 4am local time to drive to the Canberra DSN station (4 hours drive) to join the folks there  :shock:

Daniel

#13 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-06 11:42:43

Thanks for the welcome Vincent and cIclops. Great to be here. "30 secs or even two minutes" may make a big difference if "some folks here start to turn blue" (Apollo 11 landing). Just remember to breathe, folks  lol

As of this post, 19 days 6 hours to landing, distance to fly 36.5 million km, altitude above nominal landing site 4.44 million km.

Go Phoenix!

And yeah, I know the problem with the spammers. An irritating lot.

Daniel

#14 Re: Unmanned probes » Phoenix - North Pole Region Lander (PHX) » 2008-05-04 18:10:34

Thanks cIclops for the link. Entry Interface and Landing times are as advised by one of the DSN stations who received that info straight from the Phoenix team about 1 month ago and after the 13km shift of the landing ellipse. Note that there is an uncertainty in the landing time of +/- 30 secs due to uncertain atmospheric conditions. The countdown script assumes a nominal landing, on the dot and on the spot.

Interestingly enough the Phoenix mission site and the NASA Phoenix page  countdown clocks differ by 2 minutes ... which got me to seek further details in the first place. (Sorry cant post the links here because this is my first post to the forum and postings of links seems not possible yet.)

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