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Phoenix (spacecraft)
''Phoenix'' was an uncrewed space probe that landed on the surface of Mars on May 25, 2008, and operated until November 2, 2008. ''Phoenix'' was operational on Mars for sols ( days). Its instruments were used to assess the local habitability and to research the history of water on Mars. The mission was part of the Mars Scout Program; its total cost was $420 million, including the cost of launch. The multi-agency program was led by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, with project management by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Academic and industrial partners included universities in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates (MDA) in partnership with Optech Incorporated ( Optech) and other aerospace companies. It was the first NASA mission to Mars led by a public university. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lander (spacecraft)
A lander is a spacecraft that descends towards, then comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body other than Earth. In contrast to an impact probe, which makes a hard landing that damages or destroys the probe upon reaching the surface, a lander makes a soft landing after which the probe remains functional. For bodies with atmospheres, the landing occurs after atmospheric entry. In these cases, landers may employ parachutes to slow them down enough to maintain a low terminal velocity. In some cases, small landing rockets will be fired just before impact in order to reduce the lander's velocity. Landing may be accomplished by controlled descent and set down on landing gear, with the possible addition of a post-landing attachment mechanism (such as the mechanism used by ''Philae'') for celestial bodies with low gravity. Some missions (for example, Luna 9 and Mars Pathfinder) used inflatable airbags to cushion the lander's impact rather than utilizing more traditional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vastitas Borealis
is the largest lowland region of Mars. It is in the northerly latitudes of the planet and encircles the northern polar region. Vastitas Borealis is often simply referred to as the northern plains, northern lowlands or the North polar erg of Mars. The plains lie 4–5 km below the mean radius of the planet, and is centered at . A small part of Vastitas Borealis reaches below 65°N. The region was named by Eugene Antoniadi, who noted the distinct albedo feature of the Northern plains in his book ''La Planète Mars'' (1930). The name was officially adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1973. Although it is not an officially recognized feature, the North Polar Basin makes up most of the lowlands in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars. As a result, Vastitas Borealis lies within the North Polar Basin, while Utopia Planitia, another very large basin, is adjacent to it. Some scientists have speculated the plains were covered by a hypothetical ocean at some point in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finnish Meteorological Institute
The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI; ; ) is the government agency responsible for gathering and reporting weather data and forecasts in Finland. It is a part of the Ministry of Transport and Communications but it operates semi-autonomously. The Institute is an impartial research and service organisation with expertise covering a wide range of atmospheric science activities other than gathering and reporting weather data and forecasts. The headquarters of the Institute is in Kumpula Campus, Helsinki, Finland. Services FMI provides weather forecasts for aviation, traffic, shipping and media as well as private citizens via internet and mobile devices. It also has air quality services. For sea areas, it provides information about ice cover, sea level changes and waves. In 2013 FMI made openly available data sets such as weather, sea and climate observation data, time series and model data. The open data is targeted to benefit application developers who want to develop n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canadian Space Agency
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took the position on September 3, 2020. The agency is responsible to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, minister of innovation, science and industry. The CSA's headquarters are located at the John H. Chapman Space Centre in Longueuil, Quebec. The agency also has offices in Ottawa, Ontario, and small liaison offices in Houston, Washington, D.C., Washington, and Paris. History The origins of the Canadian upper atmosphere and space program can be traced back to the end of the World War II, Second World War. Between 1945 and 1960, Canada undertook a number of small launcher and satellite projects under the aegis of defence research, including the development of the Black Brant (rocket), Black Brant rocket as well as series of advance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lunar And Planetary Laboratory
The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) is a research center for planetary science located in Tucson, Arizona. It is also a graduate school, constituting the Department of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona. LPL is one of the world's largest programs dedicated exclusively to planetary science in a university setting. The Lunar and Planetary Lab collection is held at the University of Arizona Special Collections Library. Background LPL was founded in 1960 by astronomer Gerard Kuiper. Kuiper had long been a pioneer in observing the Solar System, especially the Moon, at a time when this was unfashionable among astronomers. Among his contributions are the discovery of Miranda and Nereid, the detection of carbon dioxide on Mars and of methane on Titan, and the prediction of the Kuiper Belt. Kuiper came to Tucson looking for greater independence than he had enjoyed at the University of Chicago, the chance to build a community dedicated to solar system studies, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Planetary Society
The Planetary Society is an American internationally-active non-governmental nonprofit organization. It is involved in research, public outreach, and political space advocacy for engineering projects related to astronomy, planetary science, and space exploration. It was founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman, and has about 60,000 members from more than 100 countries around the world. The Society is dedicated to the exploration of the Solar System, the search for near-Earth objects, and the search for extraterrestrial life. The society's mission is stated as: "Empowering the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration." The Planetary Society is a strong advocate for space funding and missions of exploration within NASA. They lobby Congress and engage their membership in the United States to write and call their representatives in support of NASA funding. In addition to public outreach, The Planetary Society has sponsored solar sai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mars Scout Program
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of Mars surface color, its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () Atmosphere of Mars, atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmospheric pressure is a few thousandths of Earth's, atmospheric temperature ranges from and cosmic radiation is high. Mars retains some water, Groundwater on Mars, in the ground as well as thinly in the atmosphere, forming cirrus clouds, frost, larger polar regions of permafrost and Martian polar ice caps, ice caps (with seasonal snow), but no liquid surface water. Its surface gravity is roughly a third of Earth's or double that of the Moon. It is half List of Solar System objects by size, as wide as Earth or twice the Moon, with a diameter of , and has a surface area the size of all the dry land of Earth. Martian regolith#Atmospheric dust, Fine dust is prevalent across the surface and the atmosphere, bein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water On Mars
Although very small amounts of liquid water may occur transiently on the surface of Mars, limited to traces of dissolved moisture from the atmosphere and thin films, large quantities of ice are present on and under the surface. Small amounts of water vapor are present in the atmosphere, and liquid water may be present under the surface. In addition, a large quantity of liquid water was likely present on the surface in the distant past. Currently, ice is mostly present in polar permafrost. More than 5 million km3 of ice have been detected at or near the surface of Mars, enough to cover the planet to a depth of . Even more ice might be locked away in the deep subsurface.Carr, 2006, p. 173. The chemical signature of water vapor on Mars was first unequivocally demonstrated in 1963 by spectroscopy using an Earth-based telescope. In 2008 and 2013, ice was detected in soil samples taken by the Phoenix lander and ''Curiosity'' rover. In 2018, radar findings suggested the pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planetary Habitability
Planetary habitability is the measure of a planet's or a natural satellite's potential to Abiogenesis, develop and sustain an environment hospitable to life. Life may be abiogenesis, generated directly on a planet or satellite endogenously. Research suggests that life may also be transferred from one body to another, through a hypothetical process known as panspermia. Environments do not need to contain life to be considered habitable nor are accepted habitable zones (HZ) the only areas in which life might arise. As the existence of life beyond Earth is not known, planetary habitability is largely an extrapolation of conditions on Earth and the characteristics of the Sun and Solar System which appear favorable to life's flourishing. Of particular interest are those factors that have sustained complex, multicellular organisms on Earth and not just simpler, unicellular creatures. Research and theory in this regard is a component of a number of natural sciences, such as astronomy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Days
A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, and night. This daily cycle drives circadian rhythms in many organisms, which are vital to many life processes. A collection of sequential days is organized into calendars as dates, almost always into weeks, months and years. A solar calendar organizes dates based on the Sun's annual cycle, giving consistent start dates for the four seasons from year to year. A lunar calendar organizes dates based on the Moon's lunar phase. In common usage, a day starts at midnight, written as 00:00 or 12:00 am in 24- or 12-hour clocks, respectively. Because the time of midnight varies between locations, time zones are set up to facilitate the use of a uniform standard time. Other conventions are sometimes used, for example the Hebrew calendar, Jewish religious calendar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mars Science Laboratory
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic spacecraft, robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity (rover), Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale (crater), Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigating Mars' Planetary habitability, habitability, studying its Climate of Mars, climate and Planetary geology, geology, and collecting data for a human mission to Mars. The rover carries a variety of scientific instruments designed by an international team. Overview MSL carried out the most accurate Martian landing of any spacecraft at the time, hitting a target landing ellipse of , in the Aeolis Palus region of Gale Crater. MSL landed east and north of the center of the target. This location is near the mountain Aeolis Mons (a.k.a. "Mount Sharp"). The Mars Science Laboratory mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort for the robotic exploration of Mars tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
The ''Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' (''MRO'') is a spacecraft designed to search for the existence of water on Mars and provide support for missions to Mars, as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. It was launched from Cape Canaveral on August 12, 2005, at 11:43 UTC and reached Mars on March 10, 2006, at 21:24 UTC. In November 2006, after six months of aerobraking, it entered its final science orbit and began its primary science phase. Mission objectives include observing the climate of Mars, investigating geologic forces, providing reconnaissance of future landing sites, and relaying data from surface missions back to Earth. To support these objectives, the ''MRO'' carries different scientific instruments, including three cameras, two spectrometers and a subsurface radar. As of July 29, 2023, the ''MRO'' has returned over 450 terabits of data, helped choose safe landing sites for NASA's Mars landers, discovered pure water ice in new craters and further evidence that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
