Digging for Ice, Life-Supporting Conditions on Mars

Mars Photographer (5:53 PM) Why am I doing this? I forget...
Actually, sitting in my new house in Texas facing the flight back out here, my thought was "they can't make me go back!"
But here I am. And I I'm actually quite happy while working.
And yes, I've done Mars time on Pathfinder and MER.

Dave on Earth (5:54 PM) Sounds like you have quite a love-hate relationship with Mars then!

Mars Photographer (5:55 PM) I think my wife is getting a bit fed up with Mars...

Dave on Earth (5:55 PM) Well, unfortunately for her we know even huge asteroids can't make it go away :)

Mars Photographer (5:56 PM) I know it's been bad when she starts referring to one of the spacecraft as my girlfriend.

Dave on Earth (5:56 PM) Well, phoenix is kinda cute looking. almost looks like a big fly, I think.

Mars Photographer (5:56 PM) Hmm, a one-armed, two-"winged", three-legged fly...

Dave on Earth (5:57 PM) When Phoenix finally gets swallowed up by ice in a few months, do you expect things to ease up?
Or are you going to be consumed by the next U.S. Mars mission -- the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)?

Mars Photographer (5:58 PM) Over the next few months I'll transition back to Texas and try working Phoenix remotely. We'll see how that goes.
Then Phoenix will go away, but data analysis and archiving and real science remain.
As for MSL: I need to keep away from that as long as I can!

Dave on Earth (6:00 PM) As someone who's been involved in a bunch of Mars missions, what do you think your biggest failure was? And how did you learn from it?

Mars Photographer (6:02 PM) I think I'd go with the loss of the Mars Polar Lander (MPL), though I had nothing to do with the landing.
We were much less ready to operate that mission than any other I'd seen. It was complex, and we were under-funded. Too little effort was spent testing. I had many tools in development but they weren't ready for prime time.
I took the MPL lesson really to heart with Phoenix -- I tried to fix some problems in the operations concept then. And in development, we really benefited from the mistakes we would have made if MPL had landed ok.

Dave on Earth (6:05 PM) Another thought-provoking question: Who are your heroes?

Mars Photographer (6:15 PM) Back from another operations question again... sorry.
Certainly as I grew up, Carl Sagan was a great influence. I think nearly everyone I went to grad school with has said they wouldn't be where they are without his influence, and I share that feeling.
And these are people now running pieces of Phoenix, Cassini, and laboratories here on Earth.
Beyond science, John F. Kennedy. Inspiration and calls for exploration -- a very good thing. Even though I see some things in a different light now, he provided a lot of inspiration.

Dave on Earth (6:17 PM) So I'm curious; when you're in the Phoenix mission control room, what's a typical day like?

Mars Photographer (6:18 PM) Lots of meetings... Generally the meetings are tame. Smaller group meetings sometimes have a bit more contention, but that's pretty rare considering how sleep deprived everyone is.
Have I mentioned Phoenix is much more complicated than doing the Mars rovers?

Dave on Earth (6:19 PM) I don't think so. As a stationary gizmo, I wouldn't think so.

Mars Photographer (6:19 PM) The MER vehicle is complex, the science it does less so.
Phoenix is stationary, but it interacts with the payload at a deeper level. Sometimes four instruments are going while another one or two are off doing their own thing.
So it is quite a complex system.

Dave on Earth (6:21 PM) I see. By the way, how much longer does Phoenix have to go about its work?

Mars Photographer (6:21 PM) We're looking beyond the original 90-sol mission, to an extension of a month.
But going into October, we'll start to lose the ability to do power-intensive activities. In November we go into solar conjunction.
In December, we may or may not come out the other side of the Sun... In January, the ice is almost certain to win.
Just a guess, but I think we'll have carbon dioxide dry ice condensing on some parts (e.g. robotic arm camera) first. Then, perhaps a dry ice snowfall onto the panels and deck.
It'll be neat (and sad) to watch the ice vanish next spring, from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's vantage point.

Dave on Earth (6:24 PM) It seems that most spacecraft are doomed from the cold -- I'm thinking of Ulysses in particular right now, but Phoenix is probably next in line.
How do you think you'll feel when that day comes?

Mars Photographer (6:25 PM) It's hard to say what losing Phoenix will be like. There will be a sense of "her time has come." But the mission will leave a hole.
I would have expected to have that experience with MER, but Phoenix is looking to come first. I think we're progressing enough to say we're very happy with the mission Phoenix had by the end.
But it will still feel like a great loss, and also a great relief.
Losing Pathfinder was hard, even after almost three times the promised mission.
Losing MPL was hard in a different way... It was a very funereal-like atmosphere. Many people compared it with losing a relative, and we had to struggle for perspective -- it was a deep loss, but no one had in fact died.

Dave on Earth (6:30 PM) I realize spacecraft teams pour years of their lives into these missions, even before they launch.
My final question: Do you think all that sacrifice is worth it?

Mars Photographer (6:31 PM) It's very worth it, and I wouldn't trade my role in Phoenix for anything. I think that Phoenix will play a big role in our future understanding of Mars.
The science will force changes to models, and perhaps to some basic understandings. The results will also play a role if we really do commit to sending people there.
Last year, when Phoenix was about to launch, Opportunity was in a crisis with the dust storms. I had thought I'd be relieved to lose a rover, but that event demonstrated how completely false that was.
I ended up working harder on MER than I had in over a year. I was deeply involved with tracking power, and the storm thickness, and dust on the panels.
Nothing like a crisis to remind us of our real priorities.

Dave on Earth (6:37 PM) Mark, thanks for sitting down to do this thing.

Mars Photographer (6:37 PM) No problem.

Dave on Earth (6:38 PM) Best of luck with phoenix, and I'll cross my fingers for some habitability!

Mars Photographer (6:38 PM) Thanks for that -- I'll be signing off now to go see how the uplink is going.

Dave on Earth (6:39 PM) Great, and thanks again!

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