By Dave Paiz
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 18, 1998

Traveling to the red planet

Photo Courtesy of UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Arizona Daily Wildcat The Mars Global Surveyor was launched in November 1996 in order to scan the red planet in preparation for the Polar Lander's scheduled landing on Dec. 3, 1999. The Polar Lander and the Global Surveyor are part of the UA. Several other research organizations also plan to study the climate and atmosphere of Mars.

UA-designed instruments will again land on Mars in 1999, when scientists culminate their work on pieces of the second mission to touch down on the red planet.

The Mars Climate Orbiter will be launched Dec. 10. and will begin a year-long mission to map Mars' surface and test the planet's atmosphere once it enters the planet's orbit Sept. 23, 1999.

When the mapping survey is completed, the orbiter will serve as a command and data relay for the Mars Polar Lander.

Instruments on the lander will include a joint University of Arizona/German-developed Stereoscopic Imager and Robotic Arm Camera, along with a UA-designed Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer, when it lifts off on Jan. 8, 1999.

These components are part of the Mars Volatiles and Climate Survey, one of three scientific experiments included on the Polar Lander.

The Mars Global Surveyor, which was launched in November 1996, is scanning the planet in preparation for the Polar Lander's scheduled landing Dec. 3, 1999.

The climate-survey mission is a team effort involving the UA, the University of California at Los Angeles, the California Institute of Technology, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Germany's Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy.

A summary report outlined the anticipated 90-day mission as one that will study the distribution and behavior of water in the martian atmosphere, and the historical processes which have shaped its terrain.

The imager and the Robotic Arm Camera were sent to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Jan. 3, and subsequently transferred to Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver for integration and testing, said Peter Smith, director of the Stereoscopic Imager and Robotic Arm Camera development programs at the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

"They (the two instruments) will probably be plugged in in a few days," Smith said.

Once that is completed, technicians at Lockheed Martin will begin a battery of tests to gauge stresses exerted on the lander during its launch, cruise, re-entry and landing phases.

Smith said the craft will be disassembled after each test to inspect vital components for flaws and weaknesses.

"It's quite a comprehensive series of tests," Smith said. "The spacecraft has to go through some pretty severe environments."

The multi-spectral stereoscopic imager was modeled on Smith's previous design for the Imager for Mars Pathfinder.

Smith said the new imager is virtually identical to the Pathfinder's, only more refined and with fewer system "bugs."

The Robotic Arm Camera is a specialized camera designed and built by the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy and tested at the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under the supervision of Uwe Keller, of theMax Planck Institute, and Peter Smith, an associate research scientist at the UA.

Aided by the camera, the robotic arm will dig below the martian surface to search for traces of water and other volatiles - substances named for their capacity to change form.

Soil samples obtained by the arm then will be transferred to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer to detect the presence of specific gases.

"It (the gas analyzer) will heat up the soil in a little tiny oven and measure the heat required to raise the temperature of the sample in calories," said project co-investigator William Boynton, a UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory professor.

Boynton said the procedure looks for "phase transitions" such as ice becoming water and steam.

"It takes a lot more calories to melt ice than to raise it one degree in temperature," he added.

As the soil sample's temperature is raised, it will release gases that the gas analyzer will detect and analyze, Boynton said.

He said the gas analyzer's trial model is currently being tested at the UA. The completed flight model will be sent to Lockheed Martin in Denver and put into the Mars Polar Lander in April.

"The testing is going well, there have been some problems, but they have been normal things like software bugs," Boynton said.

Other instruments on the lander include:

The Mars descent imager, built by Malin Space Science Systems Inc. of San Diego, which will view the landing area as the spacecraft descends to the Martian surface

An atmospheric experiment developed by the Russia Space Academy to monitor the scope and nature of Mars' hazy atmosphere

A miniature microphone supplied by the Planetary Society to record martian sounds.

Smith said he considers himself fortunate to be a part of a long-term martian endeavor still in its infancy.

"It (space travel) opens the human mind and excites the imagination," Smith said.

"In 100 years people will be as familiar with Mars as they are with South America."