Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 29, 2010

8

The World Around Us

 Mountain Views News Saturday, May 29, 2010


Phoenix Mars Lander Does Not Phone Home

 NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has ended 
operations after repeated attempts to contact 
the spacecraft were unsuccessful. A new image 
transmitted by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance 
Orbiter (MRO), looking down on Phoenix 
from orbital height, shows signs of severe ice 
damage to the lander’s solar panels.

 “The Phoenix spacecraft succeeded in 
its investigations and exceeded its planned 
lifetime,” said Fuk Li, manager of the Mars 
Exploration Program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Although its 
work is finished, analysis of information from 
Phoenix’s science activities will continue for 
some time to come.”

 Last week, NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter 
flew over the Phoenix landing site 61 times 
during a final attempt to communicate 
with the lander. No transmission from the 
lander was detected. Phoenix also did not 
communicate during 150 flights in three 
earlier listening campaigns this year.

 Earth-based research continues on 
discoveries Phoenix made during summer 
conditions at the far-northern site where 
it landed May 25, 2008. The solar-powered 
lander completed its three-month mission 
and kept working until sunlight waned two 
months later.

 Phoenix was not designed to survive the 
dark, cold, icy winter. However, the slim 
possibility that Phoenix had survived could 
not be eliminated without listening for the 
lander after abundant sunshine returned.

 The MRO image of Phoenix taken this 
month by the High Resolution Imaging 
Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera on 
board the spacecraft suggests the lander no 
longer casts shadows the way it did during its 
working lifetime.

 “ ‘Before’ and ‘after’ images are dramatically 
different,” said Michael Mellon of the 
University of Colorado in Boulder, a science 
team member for both Phoenix and HiRISE. 
“The lander looks smaller, and only a 
portion of the difference can be explained by 
accumulation of dust on the lander, which 
makes its surfaces less distinguishable from 
surrounding ground.”

 Apparent changes in the shadows cast by 
the lander are consistent with predictions of 
how Phoenix could be damaged by harsh 
winter conditions. It was anticipated 
that the weight of a carbon-dioxide ice 
buildup could bend or break the lander’s 
solar panels. Mellon calculated that 
hundreds of pounds of ice probably 
coated the lander in mid-winter.

 During its mission, Phoenix confirmed 
and examined patches of the widespread 
deposits of underground water ice 
detected by Odyssey, and identified 
a mineral called calcium carbonate 
that suggested occasional presence of 
thawed water. The lander also found soil 
chemistry with significant implications 
for life and observed falling snow. The 
mission’s biggest surprise was the discovery 
of perchlorate, an oxidizing chemical on 
Earth that is food for some microbes and 
potentially toxic for others.

**********

 MEANWHILE, NASA IS ABOUT 
TO BEGIN A NEW ERA of spaceborne 
astronomy with the launch of the James Webb 
Space Telescope in 2014. You’re invited to 
attend a preview of what’s just ahead, given 
by Dr. Ron Polidan, Director of Civil Space 
Advanced Systems at Northrop Grumman 
Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach. This 
free talk, presented by the Mount Wilson 
Observatory Association, is at the Altadena 
Public Library this Sunday, May 30, at 2:30 
p.m. The library is at 600 E. Mariposa St. 
(corner of Santa Rosa Ave.) in Altadena. 
Refreshments beginning at 2:00.

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com.


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The Big Apple

 It is now official. As of Wednesday May 26, 
2010, Apple is now the world’s most valuable 
technology company. This comes after decades 
of dominance by the business behemoth known 
as Microsoft. For the previous generations that 
grew up using Microsoft’s various OS and office 
computing software packages, that day pretty 
much came and went as business as usual. That’s 
because when it came to Microsoft and their 
customers, it was always about business as usual. 
Apple’s rise to its current position of dominance 
didn’t happen as a result of its climbing over the 
back of the previous business leader to assume 
the throne with the promise of better OS and 
office computing software. 

 Apple’s success has come about by offering 
their customer base products that they simply 
couldn’t do without for their personal computing 
and entertainment purposes. At this point it 
would be necessary to point out that Apple 
is now the world’s most valuable technology 
company and not the world’s most valuable 
computer company. Although the company 
does enjoy the benefits of strong computer and 
software sales that have grown consistently over 
the last decade or so, the bulk of its business has 
come from its sales of hand-held devices and 
on-line music. This trend reflects the fact that 
consumer tastes and preferences have become 
a much more driving force behind the popular 
technology of the day. In days gone by, business 
was the dominant force behind much of what 
was developed in the world of computing and 
in those days the big computing providers of the 
day just about dictated what it was that the public 
needed and wanted. Although there has always 
been a lucrative market for consumer electronics, 
until the days of affordable high-speed internet 
and low-cost computing components and 
manufacturing processes, the bar was a little high 
for most people to reach. Things have changed 
considerably since those days. Now it seems that 
consumer preferences have much more power 
than they’ve ever had before. 

 Just as the game has changed for Apple, 
Microsoft and other tech company giants that 
once ruled barely challenged, the playing field 
has changed as well. Google is also on the scene 
and they are making a serious, well-financed 
and technology-backed bid to capture the hand-
held device market that has been cornered by 
Apple with products and innovations of their 
own. They’ve already sliced into the business 
computing software market dominated by 
Microsoft and they are looking to do the 
same to Apple. Until that happens, Apple can 
congratulate itself on a job well-done.

 Now comes the really hard part…staying on 
top.

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For Saturday, May 29, 2010Come celebrate Trinity Sunday at San 
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In John 16:12, Jesus says to his 
disciples, “I still have many things to 
say to you, but you cannot bear them 
now.” Fuller Seminary PhD student 
in Preaching and the Arts Noel 
Snyder will explore the role of the 
Holy Spirit in leading us into truth.
SIERRA MADRE’S FARMERS MARKET!

Wednesday 3-7 pm Fresh vegetables and seasonal fruits from California family farms. Specialty foods, 
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