When I made a post discussing the weather station on NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander titled “First Weather Station on the Surface of Mars“, I expressed some concern that there might be something wrong with the meteorological package due to the first photo of the MET mast showing something dangling:
And I jokingly wrote: “Given that this mission was put together on a low budget, using parts previously designed for other spacecraft, it makes me wonder if the weather station we see above isn’t simply this low tech device“.
After further research, I’m forced to conclude that in fact, NASA did send a “weather rock” to Mars as part of the meteorological package!
Yes I know, you still don’t believe me, so here are the technical details. The instrument is called the “Telltale Project” and it was developed by the Mars Simulation Laboratory at the University of Aarhus in Demark.
In their project page about the instrument they write:
The Telltale is a passive wind indicator for the 2007 NASA Phoenix lander developed and constructed at the Mars Simulation Laboratory at the Aarhus University.
The Telltale consists of a gallows that is mounted on the top of the Meteorological Mast of the Lander. The active element of the instrument is an extremely lightweight Kapton tube hanging in Kevlar fibres. Images taken of the instrument will show the deflection of the Telltale due to the wind. A mirror is mounted below the active part to enable better direction information. Full resolution JPG (24 kB)
Click for a larger image.
Part of the Phoenix lander showing the Telltale on top of the Meteorological Mast ©NASA/JPL
So there you have it, what originally looked like a possible malfunction in the first photo of the first weather station on Mars turned out to be an accurate representation of the instrument, an instrument not unlike that of the “weather rock” found as a novelty item all over the world. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
In other news, I’m told that inside the MET package box, NASA has included several of these, monitored by a tiny camera, to assist in weather forecasting of seasons on Mars. 😉
UPDATE: The first day’s weather report from Phoenix Lander on Mars is now available, see below:
Now you will set off the debate over whether the brown band length indicates a cold or warm winter forecast. 😉
That is too funny! Thanks for putting a smile on my rainy Seattle morning.
It is however not such a ridiculous idea. Think about it. A “weather rock”, I had never heard of one until this morning, is an “OBVIOUS” weather indicator. That is exactly what one needs when using minimal equipment and limited computing resources to accomplish a task. After all a regular spinning wind indicator would probably wear out in short order. This thing could read “weather” for years. From a software programmer point of view this is actually ingenious. I can imagine the meeting where this was first discussed, the person(s) must have laughed themself silly.
wonder if they have microsite problems and if James Hansen will insist on ‘adjusting’ the temp data?
Phoenix uses some of the most sophisticated and advanced technology ever sent to Mars. A robust robotic arm…digs through the soil to the water ice layer underneath, and delivers soil and ice samples to the mission’s experiments.
Hmm…that “arm” looks familiar. Could it be?
http://www.christmasteddy.com/images2/03mightytonkacrane.gif
The Phoenix program is led by the Univ of Ariz, Tuscon. Take from that what you will, I suppose.
Hopefully they sent along Hansen to “interpret” and “adjust” the data befor it gets sent back!
Jack Koenig, Editor
The Mysterious Climate Project
http://www.climateclinic.com
I’m wondering what broad, sweeping conclusions will be drawn about the Martian climate based on a single measuring station that will only be operational for a few months before the Martian winter freezes it to death.
Well at least you can’t complain about misweighted gridding.
Don’t take no rocket scientist to say which way de wind blow.
All jokes aside, as a retired engineer I have to take my hat off to them. Launching a probe from Earth and making a perfect touchdown on Mars is an astounding feat. My congratulations to the scientists, engineers, and technicians who made it happen.
REPLY: Well said. I don’t wish to take anything away from that fantastic accomplishment, but this was just too curious to pass up. -Anthony
off topic but do I sense a change in ATMOZ’s AGW ? re latest postings at his/her site?
Maybe NASA learned something from the Russians. While NASA spent megatons of money developing a pen that would write in zero gravity, the Russians used a pencil. Maybe the high-tech rock is a logical extension?
I have a very similar device. My cat bats it around for hours on end.
Actually that “rock” is a rather sophisticated piece of equipment. It is extremely light and uses a mirror to amplify movement. Measuring winds in an atmosphere that is less than 1% as dense as Earths isn’t easy.
Incidentally here is the weather report for sol 1:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/phoenix/collection_16/Sol001_weather_report_black_background_1-r2__800-600.jpg
REPLY: Thanks for the tip, included in post now. -Anthony
Aviator:
That is an urban legend (though a popular one). NASA did not fund the development of the pressurized space pen. The Fisher company developed it independently with their own money and sold it to both NASA and the Russians. Pencils are not ideal in space for several reasons (bits of broken lead floating into instruments, flammable in a high-oxygen environment, etc).
D. Quist (07:04:45) :
“After all a regular spinning wind indicator would probably wear out in short order.”
My guess for the weather rock is that the thin atmosphere would have trouble with the friction of a cup anemometer and that high wind and dust on Mars could cause trouble. A good anemometer on Earth is a hot wire system where electricity is used to heat a platinum wire while the wind tries to cool it off. The resistance of the wire maps to temperature nicely. It has the advantage of no moving parts, but doesn’t tell wind direction.
Lifetime isn’t much of an issue. Unlike the over-achieving Spirit and Opportunity rovers, Phoenix will freeze by winter and not rise from the ashes. BTW, those rovers have had problems with dust on their solar collectors, but a passing dust devil has cleaned off a panel at least once. Dust on Spirit currently blocks about 2/3 of the the sunlight on its panel.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotlight/20080420_Spirit.html
What is that cool looking logo(?) in the bottom right of the weather report?
Jack Koenig, Editor
The Mysterious Climate Project
http://www.climateclinic.com
[…] NASA sends “The Weather Rock” to Mars When I made a post discussing the weather station on NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander titled “First Weather […] […]
I wonder if a “dust gauge” would be practical, since a “rain gauge” is pretty much useless.
I thought Mars had intense winds…
REPLY: It sometimes does, but the pressure at Mars surface is really low; 8 millibars as compared to standard sea level pressure of 1017.2 millibars here on earth. So the force applied to a wind instrument is much lower even thoiugh the velocity might be much higher. – Anthony
NOW I know why they are trying to find life on Mars! They need to sell those carbon credits somewhere cuz we ain’t buyin it down here!
How much Tax Dollar is spent on the rock?
Animation of “weather rock” in action:
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=14425
And here is an image to with the mirror sharpened to show how it is used to determine both wind strength and direction:
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=14421
I wonder if south pole is still melting?