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degrees Celsius, they’re probably okay; these samples won’t lose a significantamount of mass over a period of something like 8 hours. But if the temperaturewarms up to –30 or –20 degrees Celsius, then they’ll be gone. Certainly –20degrees Celsius was a problem.The answer was to “incorporate a little drill on the end of the robotic arm that isable to collect ice samples at a much faster rate. They can analyze them in acouple of hours rather than eight or nine hours.”Phoenix is designed to operate for 90 sols or Martian days, which are about 40minutes longer than Earth days, but the scientists hope the mission might beextended longer than that. Unlike other instruments that will run out of essentialmaterials, the lidar and the temperature and pressure sensors do not requireconsumables, so “we certainly hope to keep the meteorological experimentgoing,” Taylor said.However, Phoenix’s days will be numbered by the changing seasons. Unlike itsnamesake, which rose out of fire, it will probably not rise out of the Martian ice.With only the sun for energy, Phoenix is not expected to survive the polarregion’s long, dark winter. “There’ll be no power to keep the batteries alive andthings will get too cold,” said Taylor. “The expectation is that it will not awake thefollowing summer.”But, he added hopefully, “you never know.”York University leads the Canadian science team with the participation of the University ofAlberta, Dalhousie University, Optech and Natural Resources Canada (Geological Survey ofCanada), the Canadian Space Agency and international collaboration from the FinnishMeteorological Institute. MDA Space Missions is the prime contractor for the meteorologicalstation, in partnership with Optech. The telltale on the meteorological station’s mast wascontributed by the University of Aarhus, with support from the University of Alberta.The Phoenix Mission is led by Principal Investigator Peter H. Smith of The University of Arizona,supported by a science team of CO-Is, with project management at NASA's Jet PropulsionLaboratory and development partnership with Lockheed Martin Space Systems. Internationalcontributions are provided by the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel,Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus Denmark; the Max Planck Institute,Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.54
Solar-Terrestrial and Atmospheric ResearchCanadian Geospace Monitoring ProjectWhen most people hear the words “weather forecast”, they expect to hearsomething about clouds, rain, snow or winds.But now, Canadian scientists are working to provide another kind of forecast—aspace weather forecast that will predict turbulent events in the highest reaches ofthe Earth’s atmosphere where it meets a flood of electromagnetic radiation andelectrically charged particles flowing out from the sun.The solar radiation and particles interact in complex ways with both the outeratmosphere and the Earth’s magnetic field, causing a range of effects includingthe auroras and large geomagnetic storms that can damage satellites andspacecraft, disrupt communications around the world and overload powernetworks on the ground.Events like these make this vast and often tumultuous area of geospace of greateconomic as well as scientific importance. “That area of space is where there arebillions dollars of space assets,” said John Manuel, a program scientist with theCanadian Space Agency (CSA), one of the agencies funding the effort toimprove forecasting of space weather. “When that weather is rough, those assetscan be damaged and sometimes destroyed.”In 1989, a solar storm knocked out Hydro Quebec’s electrical grid, causing anine-hour blackout and multi-million-dollar losses. In 1994, two Canadiancommunications satellites, Anik E-1 and E-2, were disabled by solar storms andhad to be replaced at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. Many othersatellites have malfunctioned, interrupting media services and cell phone andGPS navigation systems.Manuel noted that high-flying aircraft, especially those that follow polar routes,are also affected by space weather and the higher levels of radiation they cancreate. “There’s an increasing number of flights across the North pole and thoseregions are more exposed to disturbances in space,” said Manuel.The CSA is working with Natural Resources Canada to improve the prediction ofspace weather events. “Just as we have a meteorology service that monitors theweather and climate to make forecasts so that people can prepare themselvesfor whatever’s coming, we have the beginnings of a space weather forecast55
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