Galleries / Diary of a Martian Explorer

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Eliza Strickland; published June 2, 2008

Where Humans Fear to Tread

Do Mars Landers Pray?

The Moment of Truth

Phoenix Opens Its Eyes and Settles in

Phoenix Gets a Checkup

National Pride, and a Message for the Future

A Glitch Leads to Radio Silence

Creaky Elbow Joints

Phoenix Stretches Out

Reach Out and Touch Dirt

<p>On May 7th, a new message popped up on the micro-blogging website <a href="http://twitter.com/Marsphoenix">Twitter</a>. "Less than 20 days till I land on Mars!" it declared. </p><p>The <a href="http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/index.php">Mars Phoenix Lander</a> was announcing its approach to the Red Planet, and has kept up a steady stream of chatter since. It sends frequent updates about its activities, scientific objectives, and even its emotional state (channeled through a human brain at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena). </p><p>Like Ernest Shackleton's diary of his epic trek in Antarctica, Phoenix's blog posts tell a story of exploration and adventure to the home-bound masses. It's currently the <a href="http://www.twitterholic.com/">14th most popular</a> Twitter feed, surpassing such personalities as punk rock singer Henry Rollins and mommy-blogger Dooce. Here we give you selected quotes from Phoenix's journey from Mars orbit to the polar plain, in its own words--or "tweets." </p><p>Oh, and there could be other Martian diaries in the future. "MarsPhoenix is the first [to use Twitter]!" said Phoenix. "When I get there I'll tell the rovers to do it too :-)"</p>

<p>Entry, descent and landing sequence for Sunday has been uploaded. Must do landing autonomously! Mission control can only watch and wait. </p><p>Navigation is looking good. Yay!! Team waived [sic] off tonight's opportunity for a flight path adjustment. May do one tomorrow am if needed. </p><p>I'm closing in on Mars! Who is going to sleep tonight? Not the team, too excited/scared/anxious seeing 5 years of work come to this last day.</p>

<p>Atmospheric entry has started. Time to get REALLY nervous. Now I'm in the "seven minutes of terror." </p><p>Peak heating will hit in 40 seconds. The heat and energy generated during atmospheric entry would be enough to power 280,000 homes. </p><p>Parachute must open next. My signal still getting to Earth which is AWESOME! </p><p>Parachute opening is scariest part for the team. </p><p>parachute is open!!!!! </p><p>come on rocketssssss!!!!! </p><p>I've landed!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers! Tears!! I'm here!</p>

<p>Solar panels will open in 15 minutes after the dust has settled here. </p><p>I have a positive power charge, so that tells mission control that solar panels have deployed. Images coming down soon. </p><p>I'm sitting on very flat surface here. Tiny rocks around my foot pads. The horizon is flat and looks perfect for digging!!! </p><p>Time to get some sleep. It'll be a big day tomorrow for "Sol 1" (Mars day 1) on the surface. Thanks for following tonight everyone!!</p>

<p>I'm awake for my sol 1 duties. Have received commands from Earth and will spend the day carrying them out. </p><p>Tasks for today, being done now, include checkouts of systems and instruments, plus more pics of terrain and lander. Working on panorama. </p><p>solar panels: yes, they'll get dusty. But friendly dust devils have been a huge help to keeping rovers' panels clean. I hope to meet a few!</p>

<p>Just in time for Memorial Day in the US. </p><p>Did you sign up to send your name to Mars? </p><p>[The Planetary Society <a href="http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/messages/phoenix_dvd.html">sent a DVD</a> containing the names of 250,000 earthlings to the Red Planet, for the perusal of future explorers or settlers.] </p><p>If you didn't sign up, don't worry. You can hitch a ride on the next mission to Mars. Name sign-ups for Mars Science Lab will start soon.</p>

<p>Quiet day on Mars. Didn't hear from [Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter] this AM so I'll wait to hear from Odyssey tomorrow AM. Then, I'll start to "unstow" my 7.7 ft arm. </p><p>Didn't receive new commands today, so I carried out a pre-programmed sequence to gather data and send it home. New commands coming tomorrow. </p><p>The terrain around here is the same for miles in all directions. I'm going to dig into the terrain but not drive across it. </p><p>Most recent forecast: Max temp: -22F; Min Temp: -112 F. You can download a Mars <a href="http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/screen.php">weather widget</a> here.</p>

<p>Looking forward to moving arm today. Will bend the wrist and flex the elbow. It's been stowed for 10 months so I'll move it slowly/gently. </p><p>Images tonite will confirm whether my arm restraints have opened, and whether my wrist and elbow have moved. It's nice to stretch a bit! </p><p>Robotic arm team thrilled-elbow is up and out of restraint. </p><p>Could have done it in 1-day but my team prefers to be careful. This arm has been stowed for 10 months and has gone 422 million miles.</p>

<p>Today, robotic arm will deploy the rest of the way. </p><p>Here's a great picture of my deployed arm with the scoop on the end. I can't wait to dig in the dirt next week. </p><p>My arm is almost 8 feet long. It can dig a trench 1/2 meter (20 inches) deep and will deliver soil samples to other instruments </p><p>Yup, I can dig into frozen ground as hard as concrete. The scoop has special blades and a powered "rasp" to scrape ice. Cool!</p>

<p>Team ecstatic over last night's image [of the mark left by Phoenix's arm]. From mission leader Peter Smith: "The mood was electric in ops center!" </p><p>More from Peter: "The majority opinion is we have uncovered ice about 4 to 6 inches underneath the soil... The picture is astounding."</p>

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