Phoenix, via Wikipedia

Ζήτω! - Βρέθηκε πάγος στον Αρη!

Μάλιστα η είδηση μεταδόθηκε πρώτα μέσω του νέου Σημασιολογικού Κοινωνικού Λογισμικού Twitter, και μάλιστα σε πρώτο πρόσωπο ενικού, αφού μπλογκάρει το ίδιο το διαστημόπλοιο Phoenix, εξηγώντας όλα όσα ανακαλύπτει και επικοινωνώντας live με τη Γη μέσω Τεχνητής Νοημοσύνης σε άπταιστη Αγγλική Γλώσσα…

• ΑΛΛΗ μια μεγαλειώδης νίκη του blogging (του ‘microblogging’ -πιό συγκεκριμμένα) και του Robotic Man-Machine Social Networking, που…ξέφυγε (αυτή τη φορά κυριολεκτικά) στο Διάστημα!

Ορίστε ο Πάγος, στην επιφάνεια του πλανήτη Άρη:

Όπως… συμπέρανε λογικά το διαστημόπλοιο, μέσα από το… blog του, “μερικές άσπρες κηλίδες εξαερώθηκαν, άρα δεν μπορεί να ήταν αλάτι, αλλά πάγος, δηλαδή στερεοποιημένο νερό”.

Ιδού το Twitter blog του ίδιου του Phoenix:

• http://twitter.com/marsphoenix

Πρόσφατα άρθρα στο διεθνές διαδίκτυο:

• The Mars Ice FAQ: How Do You Know It’s Water? (WIRED magazine)
• Bright Chunks At Phoenix Lander’s Mars Site Must Have Been Ice

Δύο είναι οι καινοτομίες Πληροφορικής που χρησιμοποιεί αυτό το μη-επανδρωμένο διαστημόπλοιο, που προσγειώθηκε στον Άρη:

1. Η χρήση πολύ προχωρημένης Τεχνητής Νοημοσύνης και Επεξεργασίας Φυσικής Γλώσσας
2. Η άμεση επικοινωνία μέσω Twitter -ένα είδος Σημασιολογικού blogging και Social Networking- στους διαλόγους του με τη Γη.

• Σαν αποτέλεσμα του (2), η είδηση ότι το διαστημόπλοιο βρήκε Πάγο στον Άρη βγήκε πρώτα στη διεθνή μπλογκόσφαιρα και μετά στα υπόλοιπα ΜΜΕ. (Εγώ τη βρήκα μέσω feed-reader, σε ξένο blog -του οποίου το σύνδεσμο παραθέτω πιο κάτω)

…αχά! Πάγος, έ;

• Ε, επιτέλους, ησύχασα… (χμμμμμ…….)

• Εκεί που βλέπω να καταλήγουμε όλοι, δεν θα άντεχα ούτε τη βότκα…

Πηγή: http://eneve.wordpress.com/2008/06/21/yes-theres-ice-on-mars, http://www.nature.com

ΕΠΕΙΓΟΥΣΑ ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ:

Αφήστε τα σάπια, πονηροί Αρειανοί (για τα ΠΑΓΑΚΙΑ) και πείτε το ευθέως:

• Τη ΒΟΤΚΑ και το ΟΥϊΣΚΥ, ΠΟΥ ΤΑ ΚΡΥΨΑΤΕ;
  

το διαστημόπλοιο Phoenix:

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Source: The Planetary Society

At fifty-three minutes past 6 pm, Central Standard Time, the Phoenix Lander confirmed to Mission Control that it landed in the northern polar region of Mars. The first successful landing without airbags to cushion the landing on the planet since Viking 2 landed in 1976. Thruster jets were used to control the landing. Over the next three months, its mission will be to use its robotic arm to dig for frozen water.

The photo at left is a picture of one of the feet of the lander and the photo below is of the surrounding Martian landscape. Credit for the photo’s: NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Univ. of Arizona.

During its 422-million-mile flight from Earth to Mars, which launched on August 4, 2007, Phoenix relied on electricity from solar panels during the spacecraft’s trip, known as the cruise stage. The cruise stage was jettisoned seven minutes before the lander, encased in a protective shell to protect against heat from entry into the thin Martian atmosphere, entered the Martian atmosphere proceeding toward the surface of the planet. Batteries provided electricity until the lander’s own pair of solar arrays spread open.

Another critical deployment will be the 7.7-foot-long robotic arm on Phoenix, which will not be attempted for at least two days. Scientists will use the robotic arm during the weeks ahead to obtain samples of soil and ice and put them into laboratory instruments on the lander deck.

Pulled by Mars’ gravity, Phoenix was speeding along at 12,700 mph before it entered the atmosphere, which slowed the craft so it could pop out a parachute and fire thruster rockets to glide softly to the ground.

The journey took 10 months and spanned a distance of 423 million miles. NASA attempted a landing on Mars’ south pole in 1999, but a problem developed during the final minutes of descent and ended the mission.

NASA canceled its next Mars lander but successfully deployed Spirit and Opportunity to the planet’s equatorial region to search for signs of past surface water.

Phoenix was created from spare parts out of the failed Polar Lander mission and a mothballed probe. Unlike the rovers, Phoenix did not bounce to the planet’s surface in airbags, which are not suitable for larger spacecraft.

Instead, like the 1970s-era Viking probes and the failed Polar Lander mission, Phoenix used a jet pack to lower itself to the ground and fold-out legs to land on.

The game is: find something looking like this on 18 pictures of Mars surface. Each picture is as big as 1600 monitor screens at 1000×1000 dpi of resolution. Click HERE and help science to understand why the Polar Lander wen so badly silent 9 years ago (choose Full image (grayscale, non-map projected) for each picture to have a nice look on Mars surface). To get an idea of what you should see, here are pictures of the path finder.

The Phoenix Mars mission, launched in August 2007, is designed to answer three questions:

1. Can the Martian arctic support life?
2. What is the history of water at the landing site?
3. How is the Martian climate affected by polar dynamics?

To help answer these questions, an eight foot robust robotic arm will dig through the Martian soil to the water ice layer underneath and will deliver the soil samples to on board experiments utilizing miniature ovens and a mass spectrometer to provide chemical analysis of trace matter; a chemistry lab-in-a-box will characterize the soil and ice chemistry; and imaging systems including an atomic force microscope will be employed.

The Canadian Space Agency will deliver a meteorological station, marking their first involvement in a mission to Mars. The station will provide data on temperature, pressure, humidity and wind speed.

The search for one of the necessary building blocks needed to support life includes the hope to find complex organic molecules in the ice-rich soil of the Martian arctic. Phoenix will pave the way for future robotic missions and ultimately, human exploration of the planet.

As of February 27, Phoenix is 87 days from landing on Mars, scheduled for May 25, 2008. The first of NASA’s low cost Scout missions, it will utilize components from two unsuccessful Mars missions; the Mars polar lander and the lander spacecraft built for the Mars Surveyor 2001 program.

During atmosphere entry, the spacecraft will be protected by an air-shield. As the speed of descent drops, it will be jettisoned and a parachute deployed. Descent engines will fire at 1,870 feet (570m) above the surface. Twelve thrusters will provide controlled bursts to gently land the spacecraft near the Martian arctic circle.

The data from the spacecraft will be relayed to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey spacecraft for transmission back to Earth.