Phoenix Mission Catalog File

PDS_VERSION_ID         = PDS3

LABEL_REVISION_NOTE       = "

      2008-03-12 PHX:berwick   Original;

      2008-04-24 GEO:slavney   Corrected nonstandard ASCII characters;

      2008-05-01 GEO: ward     Edited MISSION_NAME;

      2008-10-23 GEO:slavney   Corrected SMITH2008 reference

      2008-11-12 EN:sword      Removed embedded quotes"

RECORD_TYPE            = STREAM

OBJECT                 = MISSION

 MISSION_NAME         = "PHOENIX"

 OBJECT               = MISSION_INFORMATION

   MISSION_START_DATE = 2008-05-25

   MISSION_STOP_DATE  = UNK

   MISSION_ALIAS_NAME = "N/A"

   MISSION_DESC       = "

 Mission Overview

 ================

   The Mars Scout mission consisted of one spacecraft and Scout hardware,

   which included Phoenix lander [SMITH2008 and GUINNETAL2008].

   Phoenix was launched August 4, 2007, on a Delta II 7925 launch vehicle.

   The spacecraft design was based on the Mars Surveyor Program 2001 (MSP'01)

   configuration for cruise and entry, descent, and landing.  The

   spacecraft will follow a long coast trajectory from Earth to Mars,

   with Phoenix landing in the Northern Plains on May 25, 2008 UTC.  The

   Earth-Mars range will be 1.84AU  at the time of Phoenix's landing.

   The day after a successful launch, the spacecraft was commanded out of

   Safe Mode and setup for transition to nominal cruise phase operations.

   During the nearly 10-month cruise to Mars, both the spacecraft and the

   science instruments will be checked out via a number of planned

   activities. Also during cruise, the teams that will be operating the

   spacecraft during the critical 'end game', Entry, Descent, and Landing

   (EDL), and early surface timeframes will be practicing their roles via

   a series of Operational Readiness Tests (ORTs). As with all NASA

   planetary missions, telecommunications with the spacecraft are enabled

   by the Deep Space Network (DSN). A downlink (D/L) bit rate of 40 bps

   from Phoenix is required to be supportable at all days past launch.

   From Entry minus 60 days onward, the mission is in a subphase of cruise

   known as approach, within which the activity level dramatically increases.

   During this phase there will be continuous DSN coverage (21 passes/week

   is equivalent to 24/7 coverage) and four TCMs as the spacecrafts flight

   path is fine tuned for delivery into the martian atmosphere. Seven

   minutes prior to atmospheric entry the spacecraft separates from the

   cruise stage and reorients itself to the entry attitude. The EDL (Entry,

   Descent, and Landing) phase lasts approximately seven minutes from entry

   through touchdown, and is broken into hypersonic, parachute, and terminal

   descent subphases, all of which require the spacecraft to be in a

   different configuration.

   Following its soft touchdown between 65 degrees N to 72 degrees N

   latitude, the Lander will, after waiting 20 minutes for the dust to

   settle, perform a number of critical activities. These 'Sol 0' (a sol is

   a mars day) activities include deployments of the landed solar arrays,

   the bio-barrier covering the Robotic Arm (RA), and the Surface

   Stereoscopic Imager (SSI) and Meteorological (MET) masts, after which

   the Lander will go to sleep to conserve energy. The Lander will wake

   up for 10 minutes for the first post-landed UHF communication pass one

   ODY or MRO orbit period (approximately 2 hours) after landing. After

   relaying eagerly anticipated data to the orbiter(s) during that first

   pass, the Lander will go to sleep again. Sol 1 activity is expected to

   begin at roughly 9 a.m. Local Mean Solar Time (LMST) the following sol.

   The first seven sols after Landing are known as the characterization

   phase, with pre-planned activities running from a minimum of 3 hours

   on Sol 1 to a maximum of 6.5 hours on Sol 6 (the Lander is active for

   up to 7 hours during the nominal surface or digging phase). The

   performance of the spacecraft's power, thermal, and UHF subsystems

   will be thoroughly characterized during this phase, and the Thermal and

   Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA), Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and

   Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), and MET instruments will go through their

   initial checkouts and prepare for nominal operations. Concurrent with

   these activities, the EDL and Sol 0 data that were stored in the

   non-volatile (flash memory) will be relayed to the ground. The SSI will

   image as much of the Lander as it can see and characterize the workspace

   and surrounding environment. Most important for mission success will be

   the 'unstow' of the RA and the subsequent practice sample transfers that

   it will perform on Sol 5. The Robotic Arm Camera (RAC) located on the

   'wrist' of the RA will be used to image the footpads and the TEGA cover,

   as it is the only imager that can be maneuvered into the proper viewpoint

   for these pictures. The seventh sol does not currently contain any

   planned activities because it will be used for margin against

   activities that fail or otherwise require additional time to complete

   during characterization.

   After the Robotic Arm is checked out, the digging phase commences. The

   digging phase activities include digging a trench in front of the Lander,

   and the analysis of soil samples at various trench-depths by the Lander

   instruments. This phase continues until the End-of-Mission on Sol 90.

   Operations during this phase will be conducted at the University of

   Arizona and the mission operators will be working on Mars time (one

   martian sol is equivalent to 1.02749125 Earth days, or 24 hours, 39

   minutes, 35.244 seconds).

   The mission has been described in many papers, including a pre-landing

   set of papers in TBD special section of Journal of Geophysical

   Research - Planets, and post-landing special issues of TBD.

   [GUINNETAL2008]

 Mission Phases

 ==============

   DEVELOPMENT

   -----------

     The development phase began with the start of mission funding in

     January, 2003. During this phase, the science and technology

     requirements were tested and analyzed, and the spacecraft and

     mission were designed.  The instruments and spacecraft were

     developed and tested at Lockheed Martin in Denver, CO before

     delivery to Cape Canaveral. The design of the spacecraft trajectory

     and mission operations were also determined during this period.

     Spacecraft Id : PHX

     Target Name : MARS

     Mission Phase Start Time : 2003-01-15

     Mission Phase Stop Time : 2007-08-03

     Spacecraft Operations Type : LANDER

   LAUNCH

   ------

     The launch phase for each vehicle began at the final countdown

     through spacecraft separation from the upper stage.  Phoenix

     was launched August 4, 2007, at 926 UTC (526 EDT) from launch

     complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

     The launch azimuth was 93 degrees.  The boost portion of the

     launch vehicle trajectory took approximately 10 minutes, and

     was followed by a short coast phase in a parking orbit for

     approximately 15 minutes.  After third stage burnout, the upper

     stage despun the stack using a yo-yo despin system. Separation

     of the third stage occurred approximately 36 minutes after launch.  

     Spacecraft Id : PHX

     Target Name : MARS

     Mission Phase Start Time : 2007-08-04

     Mission Phase Stop Time : 2007-08-04

     Spacecraft Operations Type : LANDER

   CRUISE

   ------

     The cruise phase for each spacecraft began soon after separation

     from the third stage and ended 60 days before entry into the Mars

     atmosphere. The duration of cruise phase will be about 236 days for

     Phoenix. The major activities during this phase include: checkout

     and maintenance of the spacecraft in its flight configuration,

     monitoring, characterization and calibration of the spacecraft

     and payload systems, software parameter updates, attitude

     correction turns, navigation activities for determining and

     correcting the vehicle's flight path, and preparation for EDL

     and surface operations, including EDL X-band communication tests.

     No science investigations will be conducted during cruise, except for

     instrument health checkouts.

     Spacecraft Id : PHX

     Target Name : MARS

     Mission Phase Start Time : 2007-08-04

     Mission Phase Stop Time : 2008-03-26

     Spacecraft Operations Type : LANDER

   APPROACH

   --------

     The approach phase was dedicated to the activities necessary to

     ensure a successful Entry, Descent, and Landing for the

     spacecraft, beginning 60 days before entry into the Martian

     atmosphere and ending at the atmospheric entry interface point

     125km from the surface of Mars.  The main activities during

     this phase were: acquisition and processing of navigation data to

     support development of the final trajectory correction maneuvers

     and activities leading up to the final turn to the entry attitude

     and separation from the cruise stage 7 minutes before entry.

     Spacecraft Id : PHX

     Target Name : MARS

     Mission Phase Start Time : 2008-03-26

     Mission Phase Stop Time : 2008-05-25

     Spacecraft Operations Type : LANDER

   ENTRY, DESCENT, AND LANDING

   ---------------------------

     The EDL phase lasts approximately seven minutes from entry through

     touchdown, and is broken into hypersonic, parachute, and terminal

     descent subphases, all of which require the spacecraft to be in a

     different configuration.  Phoenix can land safely if the conditions

     allow the spacecraft to stay within its defined entry corridor. However,

     if it drifts away from the nominal parameters, there is a steep rise in

     the chance of failure. Graceful degradation is the desired situation

     and it is difficult to achieve for Phoenix. Therefore, the working group

     has spent several years finding the best set of parameters such as the

     entry angle, the atmospheric properties on the day of landing (Michaels

     and Rafkin, 2008), the speed at which the parachute is released, and the

     transition to powered descent (see EDL timeline in Fig. 5). In addition,

     the rock distribution and ground slopes determine the final touchdown

     success rate. Thousands of Monte Carlo calculations, each with a

     randomly selected set of incoming trajectory, atmospheric, and landing

     site parameters, are used to predict the percentage of successful

     landings.

     Landing day, May 25, 2008, at about 4:30 pm PDT, will be controlled

     from JPL and is devoted to deploying the solar arrays, extending the

     SSI mast, releasing the MET mast, and opening the bio-barrier. A small

     number of SSI images will be taken both of the spacecraft to verify

     deployments as well as the surface. All available downlinks will be

     used to gather data needed to assess the health of the spacecraft so

     that the science activities can begin. Once the spacecraft is power

     positive, has two-way communications, and is thermally stable then

     the control is transferred to the UA Science Operations Center in

     Tucson. [GUINNETAL2008]

     Spacecraft Id : PHX

     Target Name : MARS

     Mission Phase Start Time : 2008-05-25

     Mission Phase Stop Time : 2008-05-25

     Spacecraft Operations Type : LANDER

   CHARACTERIZATION PHASE

   ---------------------------

     The characterization phase of the mission will begin after

     the Sol 0 activities have been completed.  This phase will last

     8 Martian sols (each sol being 24.66 hours) after landing for

     Phoenix, while the performance of the lander's power, thermal,

     and UHF subsystems as well as the MECA, TEGA, and MET instruments

     will be characterized and prepared for operation. Data collected

     on Sol 0 will be relayed to the ground, and the SSI will image

     the lander and surrounding environment.  The DSN is scheduled for 10

     sols. The Robotic Arm will be unstowed and complete several practice

     sample transfers to prepare the lander equipment for the primary

     mission. [GUINNETAL2008]

     Spacecraft Id : PHX

     Target Name : MARS

     Mission Phase Start Time : 2008-05-26

     Mission Phase Stop Time : 2008-06-05

     Spacecraft Operations Type : LANDER

   PRIMARY MISSION (DIGGING PHASE)

   ---------------

     Phoenix's primary missions will last for 90 Martian sols from time

     of landing.  During this phase, a wealth of science and engineering

     information will be collected from the lander and instrument payload.

     Activities during this digging phase will include the digging of a

     trench in front of the lander with the RA and analyzing soil samples

     from various depths with the lander instruments.  The instruments

     will also photograph and take measurements related to the martian

     atmosphere.

     Spacecraft Id : PHX

     Target Name : MARS

     Mission Phase Start Time : 2008-06-05

     Mission Phase Stop Time : 2008-08-25

     Spacecraft Operations Type : LANDER

     "

 MISSION_OBJECTIVES_SUMMARY = "  

 Mission Objectives Overview

 ===========================

   The mission has a set of science and technology objectives.

   The science is closely aligned with the Mars Exploration Program

   objective of determining the degree to which Mars provided

   conditions necessary for formation and preservation of prebiotic

   compounds and whether life started and evolved.  This objective can

   be broadly stated as defining habitability of Mars and providing

   an understanding of roles of tectonic and climatic processes in

   possibly providing the conditions that led to life.  The presence of

   water and its interaction with crustal materials is of fundamental

   importance.  Thus, the primary objectives are focused on

   investigating the history of water in all forms on Mars and assessing

   the biological potential of the soil-ice boundary.  The four primary

   science goals are: (1) to study the history Of the ground-ice and its

   emplacement mechanisms, (2) to address the affect that subsurface ice

   has on the local surface geomorphology, (3) to characterize the climate

   and local weather of the landing site, and (4) to address the

   habitability of the icy soil. these Science objectives are subdivided

   into four primary categories in order to align with the management

   structure of the four Science Theme Groups.

   The science objectives in relation to characterizing the present

   climate include: (1) to determine the daily and seasonal variations in

   temperature, dust opacity, pressure, and humidity at the landing site,

   (2) to determine the exchange of water vapor with the subsurface,

   including D/H ratios of the atmosphere and surface samples, near-surface

   air temperature and surface temperature, and atmospheric water-vapor

   abundance throughout the mission, (3) to determine the bulk atmospheric

   composition, including isotopic ratios of 3 major elemental components

   C,O, and Ar, and (4) to measure the acceleration during EDL to constrain

   models of the atmospheric density profile.

   The next several goals are those of the geomorphology and physical

   properties theme group and will be related to the RA instrument goals

   of digging a trench to an impenetrable layer or 50cm below the surface

   and gathering samples from the surface to the trench bottom and

   delivering them to the intruments on deck. These objectives include:

   (5) image regional and local landforms and surface deposits and place

   observations in the context of orbital data, (6) identify any subsurface

   layering and distribution of subsurface water ice, (7) determine

   subsurface mechanical properties as a function of depth and correlate

   with visual, textural, chemical, and mineralogical data, (8) use image

   data to determine the morphology, topography,reflectance, and

   photometric behavior of excavated minerals, and (9) characterize surface

   and subsurface physical properties.

   Additional objectives for the lander will be investigated in the

   chemistry and mineralogy themed group and include: (10) measure the

   concentration and gradient of elements and minerals in the surface and

   subsurface, particularly organics, salts, hydrated minerals, sulfates,

   carbonates, oxidants, and other volatile-rich substances, and correlate

   these with ice, and (11) Verify the presence and identify the form of

   H2O on the surface and within the subsurface and provide this data

   for validation of models.

   The final theme group is the biological potential theme group, dedicated

   to incorporating the data from the other science teams to (12) measure

   the biological potential of the surface and subsurface environments by

   determining if liquid water has been present, measuring compounds formed

   from the biogenic elements C, H, N, O, P, S, by measuring the

   concentrations of biologically relevant ions including K, Ca, Mg, Na,

   and by assessing the redox potential.  These objectives will provide the

   basis for addressing the first four goals of the Phoenix mission, based

   on the objectives determined by the Mars Exploration Program.

"

 END_OBJECT         = MISSION_INFORMATION

 OBJECT             = MISSION_HOST

   INSTRUMENT_HOST_ID = {"PHX"}

   OBJECT             = MISSION_TARGET

     TARGET_NAME      = MARS

   END_OBJECT         = MISSION_TARGET

 END_OBJECT         = MISSION_HOST

 OBJECT             = MISSION_REFERENCE_INFORMATION

   REFERENCE_KEY_ID = "SMITH2008"

 END_OBJECT         = MISSION_REFERENCE_INFORMATION

 OBJECT             = MISSION_REFERENCE_INFORMATION

   REFERENCE_KEY_ID = "GUINNETAL2008"

 END_OBJECT         = MISSION_REFERENCE_INFORMATION

END_OBJECT           = MISSION

END