Nerd News

On the 26th of May, 2008, NASA’s Phoenix will have its EDL phase or known as the Entry, Descent, and Landing on the surface of the Red Planet. The control team of Mars Express mission is now prepared to supervise this critical phase.

According to Michel Denis, the Spacecraft Operations Manager of ESA’s Space Operations Center located in Germany, they have created a design that will immediately download all the data once Phoenix has landed in Mars. Once the data are recorded, NASA will then receive it after one hour. The team who will be monitoring the EDL phase of Phoenix will be in the Dedicated Control Room of ESOC.

In this mission, the MELACOM or the Mars Express Lander Communications will be used for Phoenix during its EDL phase. The same instrument was suppose to be used on Beagle Two’s communication.

As the MELACOM points Phoenix, the Mars Express will then perform a slew at a very high speed. This was already tested during the latter months of 2007 and confirmed that they can adjust Mars Express in order to make Phoenix visible. Aside from the MELACOM, a spacecraft of ESA will also keep track of the signals given by Phoenix once it is already in its landing zone.

The ground stations of ESA and NASA will join forces so that they can precisely monitor if Phoenix is on the right track just as they planned.

Yes, this is only a small step for us to fully take over Mars.

ESA

Posted by sexy_geek at 9:40 AM