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? [music] ?

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KIDS: Our World!

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EVAN: Hey Globey, you know
you’re my favorite planet to
explore.

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There is not place more
interesting than Earth.

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But it’s also fun to explore
other planets. So today we’re

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going to talk about the
challenges of exploring

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Mars with the Phoenix Lander.

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The Phoenix Lander is a robotic
craft that NASA sent

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to Mars to learn more about the
surface of the red planet.

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One of the coolest things about
the mission was the

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challenge NASA scientists and
engineers had to overcome

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just to get the Phoenix Lander
safely to Mars.

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But before we talk about all of
that, let’s find out

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exactly what a Lander is and
what makes it so special.

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A Lander is different than an
orbiter...and also different

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than a rover or an un-crewed
Aerial Vehicle.

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An orbiter is a craft that
orbits around the planet to
gather information.

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NASA sent multiple orbiters to
Mars,

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such as the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter,

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the Mars Odyssey, and the Mars
Global Surveyor.

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These orbiters can cover vast
areas of the planet since

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they’re circling the entire
planet. The main disadvantage

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is that they’re not getting as
close to the surface of Mars as
a UAV or a rover.

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An orbiter is very different
than a rover, which is a

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craft that’s designed to travel
across the ground.

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For example, NASA plans to send
a new generation of the

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rover to our Moon, so
astronauts can explore the
surface.

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NASA also wants to send an
un-crewed aerial vehicle...

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or UAV for short...to Mars.

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A UAV is a robotic airplane
with no pilot or crew.

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This UAV will be called ARES
and is nicknamed the “Mars
Airplane.”

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The Mars Airplane will soar
across the surface of Mars

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and send incredible photos and
video back to scientists on
earth.

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But the Phoenix Lander is not
an orbiter or a rover or an
airplane.

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It’s a Lander. A Lander stays
in one place after it’s

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touched down on the surface.
Scientists may decide to do

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this if they only want to do
research on that one part of
the planet.

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CHRIS LEWICKI: A Lander for
Phoenix was important because

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we really needed to have a very
stable platform so that

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we could dig deep into the
surface of Mars and a rover

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is not big enough to be able to
put a big robotic arm and dig
deep holes.

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Also Phoenix brought with it a
lot of scientific

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instruments and it’s easier to
take those scientific

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instruments to Mars if you have
a big Lander to do that with.

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EVAN: Just getting the Phoenix
Lander to Mars was a big
challenge.

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Just think about how far away
the planet Mars is and how

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long it would take to get
there.

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The Phoenix Lander reached Mars
on May 25th, 2008.

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The Lander had to travel 680
million kilometers from Earth.

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That’s 422 million miles!

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It took nine and a half months
to make the journey to Mars.

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Several countries have tried to
send space craft to Mars

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and about half the time they
have failed. So when the

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Phoenix Lander made it
to Mars it was a

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huge reason for NASA scientists
and engineers to celebrate.

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And think about this. NASA
scientists didn’t just want

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the Phoenix Lander to get to
Mars. They had a very

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particular place on the planet
they wanted it to land...

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the polar region!

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CHRIS: They sent Phoenix to the
polar region because it’s

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a very unique area in the
environment on Mars.

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We knew that just below the
surface of the soil were

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probably formations of water
ice.

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And if we dug down just a
little bit through that dirt

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to get to that ice that’s
probably been there for tens

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of thousands to millions of
years.

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EVAN: The Phoenix Lander was
launched on top a Delta Two

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rocket that shot it out of
Earth’s atmosphere.

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CHRIS: There are so many things
that could go wrong along the
way.

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If everything is not absolutely
perfect, you’ll crash.

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Lots of Math and science is
required.

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There are lots of calculations
to be done to

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figure out if things are the
right size.

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If they weigh the right amount,
and they’re going to

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have the right amount of energy
or force or power.

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Math is used everyday in
planning these missions and

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is something that everyone in
the project is very skilled at.

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So it’s important to learn how
to do that stuff early

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so you can do these exciting
things.

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EVAN: When the Phoenix Lander
enter the Martian atmosphere,

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it was flying approximately
21,000 kilometers per hour,

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or approximately 13,000 miles
per hour.

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That is really fast.

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The Lander was slowed down
dramatically by using a
parachute.

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Then the Lander’s legs were
extended.

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This caused the 12 small
rockets on the Phoenix Lander
to fire,

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which slowed the Lander down
even more.

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By the time the Phoenix Lander
touched down on the

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surface of Mars, it was
traveling at only 8

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kilometers per hour or around 5
miles per hour.

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Scientists jokingly referred to
the Phoenix Lander’s

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entry, descent, and landing
process as "Seven Minutes of
Terror"

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because it took the Lander
seven minutes from the time

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it entered Mars’ atmosphere at
21,000 kilometers per hour

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to a full stop on the surface
of Mars.

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During those seven minutes,
which seemed to last forever

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to the scientists on Earth,
NASA had no contact with the
Lander.

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The scientists didn’t know the
Lander had touched down

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safely until the Lander made it
to the surface

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set up it's equipment and began
to send a signal to NASA.

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After the Lander was safely on
the surface, it stretched

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out its solar panels. These
solar panels collected energy

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from the sun’s rays, and that
energy was used to power the
Phoenix Lander.

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With the solar panels fully
extended, the Phoenix Lander

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is 5.5 meters or 18 feet long.

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It weighs 350 kilograms, which
is a whopping 770 pounds.

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Within an hour of touching down
on the surface of Mars,

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the Phoenix Lander began to
send communications back to

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scientists on Earth.

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It’s mission on Mars was just
beginning, but it had already
been a great success.

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You can see how much math and
science is involved for NASA

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scientists and engineers to
design the Phoenix Lander

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and then successfully get it to
Mars. By checking and

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rechecking their math and
learning from their mistakes in
the past,

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they were able to overcome
those challenges.

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And now we get to see
incredible photos and video of
the surface of Mars!

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? [music] ?

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KIDS: Our World!