14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at NASA are hopeful that they will be able to restore some kind of communications with the Phoenix Mars Lander. The robot was deployed on the surface of the Red Planet in 2008, and managed to exceed its alloted life time. However, unlike the MER components Spirit and Opportunity, it eventually succumbed to the incredibly harsh conditions it was subjected to. Still, mission managers say that the lander could still have some energy in it, and that all the instruments aboard were in good shape before contact was lost. They plan to use the Mars Odyssey orbiter beginning Monday, January 18, to listen for any possible signals Phoenix may be transmitting, Space Fellowship reports.
Phoenix transmitted its last message in November 2008, and was unable to receive or broadcast signals since. The amount of power in its batteries was insufficient to allow for normal operations, given that the Martian winter that ensued brought with it chilly temperatures and less sunlight. Therefore, the robot had no means of securing additional energy via its solar panels. Still, scientists hope that now, once the winter has passed, the systems aboard Phoenix will be able to use whatever power they have left to spring back to life.
It is, however, improbable that the lander will reawaken, given that most of its instruments and overall design were not built specifically to withstand a Martian winter. Still, if it does survive, then it has very strict instructions on what to do next. As soon as sufficient energy is accumulated in the solar panels (in the sense that it records a positive energy balance), the machine will attempt to broadcast signals periodically to any of the orbiters currently around Mars. These surveillance units will be then used as relays to Earth, to boost the signal, and send it home for deciphering. For the communication attempt, Phoenix will alternate between using its two radios and two antennas, to see whichever works.
“We do not expect Phoenix to have survived, and therefore do not expect to hear from it. However, if Phoenix is transmitting, Odyssey will hear it. We will perform a sufficient number of Odyssey contact attempts that if we don’t detect a transmission from Phoenix, we can have a high degree of confidence that the lander is not active,” expert Chad Edwards, from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California, explains. He is the chief telecommunications engineer for the Mars Exploration Program at the lab.
According to experts at JPL, Odyssey will make about 30 passes in January over Phoenix's landing site, about ten each day, for three consecutive days. It will passively listen for signals from the lander, and will also attempt to broadcast radio data on its own. Two additional, longer campaigns are scheduled to take place in February and March. If the orbiter locks onto a signal, it will then determine which of Phoenix's capabilities are left, and this in turn will inform mission managers of any potential uses for the lander.