Já viram se isto tivesse acontecido durante a aterragem da Phoenix?

Sonda Phoenix fotografada da órbita de Marte

Mais um trabalho da câmera HiRISE, do Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, que mostra em grande detalhe o local de aterragem da Phoenix em Marte. Clique nas imagens para aumentar.

Começou a contagem decrescente para a próxima missão do Space Shuttle

Aqui fica a descrição da contagem, à qual devem ser somadas 5 horas para obter a hora de Lisboa.

Fonte: Email da CBS Space News

EDT...........EVENT

Wed 05/28/08

02:30 PM......Call to stations
03:00 PM......Countdown begins

Thu 05/29/08

01:00 AM......Fuel cell reactant load preps
06:30 AM......SRB master events controller power up
07:00 AM......Clear crew module

07:00 AM......Begin 4-hour built-in hold
07:00 AM......Clear blast danger area
07:45 AM......Orbiter pyro-initiator controller test
07:55 AM......SRB pyro initiator test
08:55 AM......Master events controller pre-flight BITE test
11:00 AM......Resume countdown

12:30 PM......Fuel cell oxygen loading begins
03:00 PM......Fuel cell oxygen load complete
03:00 PM......Fuel cell hydrogen loading begins
05:30 PM......Fuel cell hydrogen loading complete
06:30 PM......Pad open; ingress white room

07:00 PM......Begin 8-hour built-in hold (240-pound LO2 offload)
11:00 PM......Crew module clean and vacuum
11:30 PM......Fuel cell loading boom demate

Fri 05/30/08

01:00 AM......Secure mobile launch platform interior
03:00 AM......Countdown resumes

03:00 AM......Main engine preps
03:00 AM......Master event controllers 1 and 2 on; avionics system checkout
04:00 AM......Remove OMS engine covers, throat plugs
04:30 AM......Deflate rotating service structure dock seals; tile inspection
05:00 AM......Tile inspection
09:00 AM......Tail service mast prepped for fueling

11:00 AM......Begin 13-hour 37-minute hold
12:45 PM......Crew weather briefing
01:30 PM......OIS communications check
02:20 PM......JSC flight control team on station
03:30 PM......Comm activation
04:00 PM......Crew module voice checks
05:00 PM......Flight crew equipment late stow
05:30 PM......Debris inspection
08:30 PM......RSS moved to park position
09:30 PM......Final tile, debris inspection
10:30 PM......Ascent switch list

Sat 05/31/08

12:37 AM......Resume countdown

12:37 AM......Astronaut support personnel cockpit config
12:57 AM......Pad clear of non-essential personnel
12:57 AM......Hydaulic power unit bite test
01:47 AM......Fuel cell activation
02:37 AM......Booster joint heater activation
03:07 AM......MEC pre-flight bite test
03:22 AM......Tanking weather update
04:07 AM......Final fueling preps; launch area clear
04:37 AM......Red crew assembled
05:22 AM......Fuel cell integrity checks complete

05:37 AM......Begin 2-hour built-in hold (T-minus 6 hours)
05:47 AM......Safe-and-arm PIC test
06:30 AM......Crew wakeup
06:37 AM......External tank ready for loading
06:52 AM......Mission management team tanking meeting
07:37 AM......Resume countdown (T-minus 6 hours)

07:37 AM......Liquid oxygen (LO2), hydrogen (LH2) transfer line chilldown
07:47 AM......Main propulsion system chill down
07:47 AM......LH2 slow fill
08:17 AM......LO2 slow fill
08:22 AM......Hydrogen ECO sensors go wet
08:27 AM......LO2 fast fill
08:37 AM......LH2 fast fill
10:32 AM......LH2 topping
10:37 AM......LH2 replenish
10:37 AM......LO2 replenish

10:37 AM......Begin 2-hour 30-minute built-in hold (T-minus 3 hours)
10:37 AM......Closeout crew to white room
10:37 AM......External tank in stable replenish mode
10:52 AM......Astronaut support personnel comm checks
11:22 AM......Pre-ingress switch reconfig
11:40 AM......Crew breakfast/photo op (recorded)
12:00 PM......NASA television launch coverage begins
12:32 PM......Final crew weather briefing
12:42 PM......Crew suit up begins
01:07 PM......Resume countdown (T-minus 3 hours)

01:12 PM......Crew departs O&C building
01:42 PM......Crew ingress
02:32 PM......Astronaut comm checks
02:47 PM......Hatch closure
03:27 PM......White room closeout

03:47 PM......Begin 10-minute built-in hold (T-minus 20m)
03:57 PM......NASA test director countdown briefing
03:57 PM......Resume countdown (T-minus 20m)

03:58 PM......Backup flight computer to OPS 1
04:02 PM......KSC area clear to launch

04:08 PM......Begin final built-in hold (T-minus 9m)
04:38 PM......NASA test director launch status verification
04:53:11 PM...Resume countdown (T-minus 9m)

04:54:41 PM...Orbiter access arm retraction
04:57:11 PM...Launch window opens
04:57:11 PM...Hydraulic power system (APU) start
04:57:16 PM...Terminate LO2 replenish
04:58:11 PM...Purge sequence 4 hydraulic test
04:58:11 PM...IMUs to inertial
04:58:16 PM...Aerosurface profile
04:58:41 PM...Main engine steering test
04:59:16 PM...LO2 tank pressurization
04:59:36 PM...Fuel cells to internal reactants
04:59:41 PM...Clear caution-and-warning memory
05:00:11 PM...Crew closes visors
05:00:14 PM...LH2 tank pressurization
05:01:21 PM...SRB joint heater deactivation
05:01:40 PM...Shuttle GPCs take control of countdown
05:01:50 PM...SRB steering test
05:02:04 PM...Main engine start (T-6.6 seconds)
05:02:11 PM...SRB ignition (LAUNCH)

Space Shuttle será lançado no Sábado, com uma missão inédita

Além da instalação do laboratório espacial Kibo, de concepção japonesa, a tripulação da Discovery, juntamente com a tripulação da ISS, irão tentar... desentupir a retrete da ISS!

Pode parecer caricato, mas um problema destes pode levar à evacuação (!!!) da ISS.

Fonte: Local 6


Astronauts To Fix Space Station Toilet
Plumbing Added To Discovery Mission

POSTED: 11:52 am EDT May 27, 2008
UPDATED: 12:28 pm EDT May 27, 2008
How do you call a plumber in space?

Space shuttle Discovery will be loaded with spare parts to fix the main toilet in the Russian segment of the International Space Station; the vacuum-powered urine-collection device failed after repeated attempts to fix it last week.

The three crew members on the station, a U.S. astronaut and two cosmonauts, are using the toilet in the Soyuz module. The situation could become problematic when Discovery arrives next week, and 10 people are required to share the toilet on the tiny Soyuz, which is a Russian capsule also designated to be used at an emergency escape lifeboat. The shuttle's toilet, however, could provide some relief until the ISS toilet is repaired, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.

Conditions are not unsanitary, said a NASA spokesman.

Though Discovery will carry up replacement parts on Saturday, NASA is not yet sure which parts will be needed for replacement.

With the successful arrival on Mars of the Phoenix spacecraft, NASA is turning its attention to Saturday's launch of Discovery on a mission to deliver a massive Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station.

Technicians returned to work on Tuesday at launch pad 39A after most work crews had the Memorial Day weekend off. Discovery's astronaut crew arrives at Kennedy Space Center Wednesday about 11:30 a.m. The coundown begins at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Discovery will blast off at 5:02 p.m. on a trip to deliver the 37-foot Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station. Three spacewalks will be performed during the 14-day mission.

A fotografia da Década!

Clique para aumentar.

Esta foto, absolutamente única no seu género, mostra a sonda Phoenix (o pequeno ponto branco em baixo) a descer para Marte, ainda suspensa pelo seu pára-quedas (o ponto branco maior, em cima)! Foi tirada de órbita (!!) pela câmera HiRISE da sonda Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. É a primeira vez na História que é fotografada uma sonda a descer para Marte - ou para qualquer outro planeta, incluindo a Terra!

Fonte: Site Oficial da Phoenix


Camera On Mars Orbiter Snaps Phoenix During Landing

May 26, 2008 -- A telescopic camera in orbit around Mars caught a view of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute during the lander's successful arrival at Mars Sunday evening, May 25.

The image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter marks the first time ever one spacecraft has photographed another one in the act of landing on Mars.

Meanwhile, scientists pored over initial images from Phoenix, the first ever taken from the surface of Mars' polar regions. Phoenix returned information that it was in good health after its first night on Mars, and the Phoenix team sent the spacecraft its to-do list for the day.

"We can see cracks in the troughs that make us think the ice is still modifying the surface," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. "We see fresh cracks. Cracks can't be old. They would fill in."

Camera pointing for the image from HiRISE used navigational information about Phoenix updated on landing day. The camera team and Phoenix team would not know until the image was sent to Earth whether it had actually caught Phoenix.

"We saw a few other bright spots in the image first, but when we saw the parachute and the lander with the cords connecting them, there was no question," said HiRISE Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen, also of the University of Arizona.

"I'm floored. I'm absolutely floored," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. A team analyzing what can be learned from the Phoenix descent through the Martian atmosphere will use the image to reconstruct events.

HiRISE usually points downward. For this image, the pointing was at 62 degrees, nearly two-thirds of the way from straight down to horizontal. To tilt the camera, the whole orbiter must tilt. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was already pointed toward the expected descent path of Phoenix to record radio transmissions from Phoenix.

McEwen said, "We've never taken an image at such an oblique angle before."

Monday's tasks for Phoenix include checkouts of some instruments and systems, plus additional imaging of the lander's surroundings.

Inevitável! Marcianos manifestam-se contra a invasão americana de Marte!

Os 7 minutos de terror da Phoenix

Vídeo que descreve os 7 minutos da fase 'EDL' - Entry, Descent, Landing - da Phoenix.

Mais imagens de Marte

A superfície da zona ártica de Marte, mostrando vários 'polígonos',
possivelmente criados por camadas de gelo subterrâneo. Clique para aumentar.

Um dos polígonos referidos. Clique para aumentar.

As primeiras imagens da Phoenix a partir de Marte

Estas são algumas das primeiras imagens enviadas para a Terra pela Phoenix a partir da superfície de Marte. Chegaram ontem por volta das 2:30 da madrugada (acordei com os aplausos na NASA TV!). Mostram os painéis solares abertos, um dos pés da sonda, e o horizonte de Marte. A Phoenix aterrou numa planície muito plana, com poucos rochedos. A superfície apresenta falhas em forma de polígono, possivelmente formadas pela presença de gelo subterrâneo.

A descida da Phoenix

Vídeo da cobertura da descida da Phoenix até Marte, pela NASA TV. O vídeo começa quando a Phoenix já estava a entrar na atmosfera de Marte. A tensão era óbvia, a 'irmã' desta sonda despenhou-se no Pólo Sul de Marte em 1999, mas desta vez toda a gente estava sorridente. Pessoalmente pensei que estavam todos a deitar foguetes antes da festa, mas felizmente era só a confiança de quem fez um bom trabalho.

A narrativa de quem lia a telemetria é dramática, e simplesmente inesquecível. Um dia histórico.