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Phoenix goes down for a day; Jules Verne successfully completes its task; and NASA scientists go to Washington to test its technology

A glitch aboard the Phoenix Mars lander caused the lander to lose one day of work as NASA continues to have Phoenix investigating soil near the north pole on Mars.

Phoenix landed late last month and has endured three delays during its three-month mission to help scientists uncover the possible existence of water or ice on the Red Planet.

“It’s unfortunate to lose any bit of science,” said Ray Arvidson, mission scientist from Washington University. “But it’s not really critical stuff that you kick yourself over.”

Mission researchers were not aware something was wrong until Phoenix sent the same piece of data back to Earth more than 45,000 times in a row. Repeatedly sending the data back to Earth caused it to power down before saving all of the day’s research and engineers are still not sure why the problem occurred in the first place.

Phoenix is now running normally again.

The European Space Agency’s Jules Verne automated transfer vehicle (ATV) successfully transferred 811 kilograms of refueling propellant to the International Space Station (ISS). The ESA now has the first spacecraft to successfully transfer fuel from one spacecraft to the ISS.

As the crew were preparing for a spacewalk that will take place in two weeks time, engineers at the ATV Control Center on Earth helped monitor the Jules Verne as it worked almost 30 minutes to transfer 280 kg of a Russian fuel and 530 kg of nitrogen tetroxide to the ISS.

“Today, Europe has gained a new space capability which represents a new step towards human spaceflights and advanced exploration programmes”, said Jean-François Clervoy, ATV senior advisor and a member of ESA’s Astronaut Corps. “ATV is the only western vehicle able to refuel another spacecraft in complement to the Russian Progress. The successful automation of this function frees significant crew time for other ISS operations.”

LakeMoses, Washington recently played host to a handful of concept robots and rovers NASA is testing for a future mission to the moon. Scientists took the technology they felt was closest to ready for real-world implementation on the lunar surface.

Cargo carriers, cranes and futuristic space suits were also tested by researchers at Lake Moses. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s ATHLETE cargo-moving rovers, able to walk or roll across rough terrain, were tested during the trip.

A new autonomous drilling rover designed to withstand both cold and dark environments also was tested during the event.

dailytech.com