Martian Summer

  “Plus, there weren’t enough people to do tactical work on the mission,” he says.

  Mellon was perfect. He already understood the big picture, and they kept expanding his responsibilities.

  “You can’t say no to that,” Mike says. “Honestly, I’d do anything to be a part of this and do a bit of science. I would have dusted monitors if Peter asked.” Now he doesn’t want to say good-bye.

  “I’ll miss it,” he says quietly. “I don’t feel like we finished. I’m grateful for the opportunity, but there’s more work here. We’re just getting to the good stuff!” Mike is most excited about digging. He wants to let the RA dig and see what’s there. And we just started excavating. Sigh.

  “I remember the first time I made a plan. Joel ripped it to sheds,” he says. Mike thought he knew what he was doing. He worked hard to prepare for his strategic science lead duties.

  “I tried to protest, but Joel would say ‘No. It has to be like this,’” Mike says and laughs. You just swallow your pride and get back to work. But he learned. And he learned to love it.

  “Your job is to spread the pain when you take a hit. You can’t just cut chemistry observations because you’re a geologist,” he says.

  “It’s a tough job and scientists are argumentative. You forget how tough they are. They have their objective and they want to get their work done. Now I’m used to it. But then when I saw the new team rotate in, I saw it. When Paul Niles started on his first strategic [science lead] shift, it all came back.” People want their work in the plan. And they’re not afraid to argue for it.

  “Soon they’ll get comfortable with Paul and be more agreeable,” Mike says. “The hardest part is that sometimes it ends up being just you and the strategic SPI in the wee hours of the morning. You try to make the best decisions you can. Then, there’s no better feeling when you hand off the plan and Doug Ming or Mark Lemmon say wow, this works great,” he says.

  Mike says if I want, I can shadow him tomorrow. He’ll let me follow him around to learn the strategic science lead job. I accept!

  On my way to the end-of-sol science meeting, I pass a frazzled Katie Dunn.

  “Please shoot me,” she says. Today is her first day as shift lead; she got a promotion. JPL wants to give as many young engineers mission experience as possible. And this is a good setting for them to learn. The hope is that they will move on to leadership positions when the next flagship mission MSL launches in three years’ time. Hang in there, Katie.

  AT THE SCIENCE MEETING, PETER GOES OVER THE AGENDA FOR THE press conference. Some scientists object. Peter cuts them off.

  “It’s too late,” he says. “The press conference is scheduled for tomorrow morning and we’re not changing anything.” Many on the team thought it unfair to give such little notice. They didn’t have time to object. They are used to Peter’s relatively democratic approach to running the mission. Some are taken aback by this autocratic “No.”

  Before the science team retires, the AP already has a new story titled “Martian Soil May Contain Detrimental Substance.” So much for spin.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  SHOVE THE REGOLITH BACK IN THE LANDER

  SOL 70

  I WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF MY MARS NIGHT TO ATTEND THE morning (Tucson time) press conference. The news cycle operates on Earth’s schedule. Participants from NASA headquarters in Washington, here in Tucson, and at JPL in Pasadena dial in and chat among themselves.

  I don’t even make it through the door of the Swamp, where the teleconference occurs. There’s no “Shhh” finger from Sara Hammond. I just get the waveoff. Sara Hammond shoos me away. She follows me out of the room.

  “There are some important NASA and JPL representatives here today. It would be inappropriate for you to attend. Sorry,” Sara says. Just when I thought I was starting to feel like a part of this mission, they boot me. They want me. They don’t want me. I head over to my squat/desk with the Canadians and other ITARds and dial into the teleconference. Peter comes out of his office a minute before it’s scheduled to begin.

  “Time for my press conference,” he says to no one in particular. “Well, wish me luck.”

  I do.

  THE PRESS CONFERENCE BEGINS WITH THE NASA PRESS MAVEN DWAYNE Brown telling everyone they got the story wrong.

  Michael Meyer, the chief scientist for NASA, is on the phone too.

  “We’re here to announce a non-announcement,” he says. “In keeping with the open, communicative nature of the Phoenix mission, such as through blogs, web presence, press releases, and mid-mission press conferences, we have representatives of the science team here to answer your questions.” And with an awkward monologue, Meyer begins.

  “Today, we’re opening a window into the project to allow the public to see our scientific process in action,” Peter says. “Tradition is bypassed because of the extreme interest.” He warns listeners against making conclusions while they are only half way through the the mission.

  “We don’t know the whole story, but we believe we see perchlorate in the WCL readings,” he says. “Please be patient.” Then he gives a little science lesson to help everyone understand.

  “On the Earth, perchlorate is found in the Atacama Desert in Chile and is associated with nitrates that are mined for fertilizer. This desert is a hyper-arid environment that rarely sees rain and has no vascular plants. It is often used by scientists, as a matter of fact, as a Martian analog site. These compounds are quite stable in soil and water and do not destroy organic materials under normal circumstances. In fact, there are species of perchlorate-reducing microbes that live on the energy provided by this oxidant. Therefore, this is an important piece in the puzzle as we attempt to determine whether habitable conditions exist for microbes on Mars. In itself, it is neither good nor bad for life. There are other substances that are being looked at and can produce some of the signatures that we see in our MECA and TEGA instruments… . This will take some time since the individuals who would do this lab work are those same ones operating the flight instruments on Mars. But it’s the highest priority to deliver a sample to TEGA that will confirm the results.” Peter is firm in his statement. Maybe he’s been too passive, and now they need to reclaim the story.

  Mike Hecht goes next. He’s less authoritarian.

  “I want to categorically deny that we had anything whatsoever to do with the recent trade of Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers. That’s all I have to say on that subject,” he says.

  Hecht then segues into an animated assessment of just how Phoenix does its chemistry. He explains how the four little MECA crucibles inject a solution into the dirt sample and then measure the chemistry with sensitive little sensors—selective ion sensors—embedded in the equipment.

  Then Bill Boynton does his dog-and-pony show. It’s a slightly less rigorous version of his end-of-sol science talk. He explains where they thought they might register readings as peaks of chlorine and oxygen in their graph, but they did not see them. Now they’re trying to figure out why.

  And that’s the end of the presentation. In summation: We found perchlorate in one sample that was taken at the surface. We didn’t find perchlorate in a different sample, taken a little deeper in a trench. We’re not sure why. But as soon as we know, we’ll tell you. Oh, and we didn’t tell the President we found life on Mars.

  Dwayne Brown opens things up for questions.

  Craig Covault gets to ask the first question. You’d have thought NASA might blacklist him, or at least made him wait at the end of the question line.

  I lean in close to the speakerphone. Several scientists joined me in downlink to listen.

  “Do you think you went too far in characterizing their first chemistry results as supportive of life?” he asks, going on the offensive. He wants to know if they misrepresented themselves.

  “We reported what we knew at the time,” Mike Hecht says directly.

  “There was nothing incorrect about what was reported
. When we saw our second soil sample, that gave us confidence that we had a perchlorate signal. At that point, we went into the process Peter described: careful confirmation, careful laboratory backup tests, waiting until it was the proper time to announce those additional results. No regrets,” Mike says.

  Reporters from CNN, CBS, NBC, the news wires, and a smattering of international correspondents are on the line and have questions.

  Miles O’Brien, one of the science correspondents from CNN, asks how they could have a conflict with the instruments.

  “It’s not that we’re in conflict. We just don’t have a handshake,” Peter says.

  The two results are not mutually exclusive. They just came from different locations. They need more time to confirm that what they have makes good sense.

  O’Brien also wants to know how this impacts the prospects of finding life.

  “I’ve been to the Atacama Desert, and it’s pretty darn dead,” he says.

  Richard Quinn from NASA Ames is with Mike and Sam. He’s an expert on oxidants like perchlorate and coincidentally has spent lots of time in the Atacama Desert. He says O’Brien has it wrong.

  “There were some initial reports on the scientific literature that the Atacama was very Mars-like. They couldn’t find organics. They couldn’t culture microbes,” he says. However, the story is not that simple. “But, then, as research continued and we looked a little closer, we found organics in the nitrate deposits in association with perchlorate. When we looked closer, we found microbes. So it sort of turned around when we looked at the Atacama. Now, we know that microbes can exist quite happily in oxidizing conditions. I would say that the story possibly could turn out to be the same for Mars. We don’t know yet, but we will continue our research along those lines.”

  O’Brien sounds disappointed with the answer. Life or no life? Which is it? A questioner from MSNBC wants to know exactly what is so interesting about perchlorate.

  “Perhaps someone can just kind of explain in basic terms what’s the big deal about perchlorate,” he says. My first instinct is to dismiss this reporter. But then I realize he represents the voice of most people trying to follow this story. They don’t know anything about Mars chemistry. He needs a story from the mission that starts: “Perchlorate is an exciting new find on Mars, here’s why: it’s a source of food for microorganisms; it can be used as rocket fuel and it would pose a threat to humans that travel to Mars (and when we tell you about liquid water in a few months it’ll explain that too)!” If we don’t explain these to him and make it easy for him to feast on the Martian delight, then we fail to tell the mission’s story.

  Then, of course, he’d like to know if they’re going to find anything else exciting. At which point it becomes a lot harder to feel any sympathy. Anything interesting? Seriously!?

  “I guess that’s a trick question,” the reporter says before anyone has a chance to answer. Okay, let’s get back to the serious stuff. Keith Cowling, the editor at nasawatch.com, says he has a question for Michael Meyer.

  “After a decade of the Internet as a driver of stories, why is it that you all still find yourself caught off guard by this strange thing called the Internet? Why have you not had a chance to come up with different ways to do stuff? Or is this just going to be a factor of life?” Cowling asks.

  “Keith, I’m actually not sure what you mean by the question. I think everybody on the team uses the Internet,” Michael Meyer says in response. Oy. I put my head in my hands. What the kids on the World Wide Web would call a facepalm.

  The one certainty on a mission like this is that you’ll find something uncertain. If you’re not sure you’ll find something uncertain, then you wouldn’t go in the first place. How is it NASA cannot be prepared for that? They let the media and conspiracy theorists drive the message, and then they chase them all over town instead of being open and proactive about every step. More information would help negate more misinformation.

  There are more questions about the Atacama Desert and how perchlorate forms. Richard Quinn tries to undo the confusion and with the rest of the team sorts out what this all means for the future of Mars. It’s mostly informed and thoughtful speculation. The results need to be confirmed before anyone can say for sure. It’s fascinating that this weird place, a desert in Chile called Atacama, might turn out to be a little Mars right here on Earth. Then the press conference is over. Dwayne thanks everyone for coming.

  MIKE HECHT AND SAM KOUNAVES DISCUSS THEIR PERFORMANCES ON the way back to downlink.

  “I don’t take anything back,” Mike says. Sam agrees.

  Peter returns to his office with the project executive from NASA, Bobby Fogel, Ramon de Paula’s counterpart, at NASA headquarters. Ah, so he’s the reason I wasn’t allowed in the teleconference.

  “I’m glad you’re here, Bobby,” Peter says, patting Bobby on the back. “I like you to see things firsthand.” They disappear into Peter’s office.

  There’s still some time before kickoff. Now it’s time to forget trifling media matters and begin my strategic science lead apprenticeship.

  Mellon sits with Paul Niles. Niles served as the strategic science lead for the better part of last week. Paul debriefs Mellon. He needs to get Mellon up to speed before handing over responsibility. This is Paul’s sixth crazy day on duty and he looks pale and haggard. There are bags under his bloodshot eyes. He keeps crinkling his large forehead to try to keep his eyes focused.

  Last night was difficult for Paul. It was one of those sols that reminds Mike Mellon how hard his job is. Science team members complained their science was ignored while TEGA got all the resources. They said Paul plays favorites because he’s a part of the TEGA team.

  “I thought there was the strategic directive to get the next sample in,” Paul said defensively.

  Ray, calling in remotely to monitor the situation, admonished Paul and told him to be fair. He couldn’t do anything right. It was rough.

  “I’m happy to get a little break,” Paul says.

  He asks Mike to figure out the necessary activities to do another round of exploration trenches. He was going to do it, but he has too many other loose ends to tie up and he says he’s just too tired. He brings Mellon up to speed on the TEGA issues.

  “TEGA requested a sol 72 early wakeup for the delivery,” Paul says. “But I’m not sure we can do it because of the battery constraints.”

  Phoenix is coming off its monster 36-hour sol, the longest yet. After the thirty-six hours of work, there is very little charge left in the battery and there might not be enough power to make the delivery. They probably need time to charge the batteries before turning on the heaters and executing this power-hungry maneuver.

  Mellon says he will consult with the battery and power specialists on the spacecraft team. They can calculate how much power the solar panels will likely pull from the sun that morning. Then they’ll get back to TEGA and let them know if the spacecraft has enough power for the early morning delivery. Paul and Mellon decide there should be some sort of contingency if they run into power trouble.

  Then it’s on to the next set of issues. The spacecraft will generate a lot of data. Too much. They need to massage the downlink priorities and cut some activities.

  “We have to de-prioritize the AFM (Atomic Force Microscope),” Mike says. He demotes the second round of scans to drop-in science, meaning it gets done if there’s extra room in the plan. These would be the first to go if the plan gets overbooked. I’m trying to keep up. But there’s a lot to keep track of in this new job.

  “You have to know what happened the last three sols and what each group in the science teams wants to happen in the next three sols,” Mike says. That’s six days’ worth of desires for six instruments.

  THE CONFERENCE PHONE BEEPS.

  “Ray is online,” a disembodied voice says over the PA. The remote operations test continues and Ray starts the kickoff meeting. We’re waiting to find out what happened with the TEGA high temperature ramp repeat, an
d we’re hoping to get the first ever AFM scans.

  The new plan is complicated. There won’t be a lot of power after the 36-hour sol. So we’ll have to be efficient.

  “I want to try to use the RA for trenching and work on divot imaging,” Ray says.

  He even considers room in the plan for more pictures of the lander legs. That will make Nilton Renno very happy. He’s currently on vacation. He took his son to LEGOLAND. Even though Nilton is away from SOC, he’s waging a vigorous email campaign defending his liquid water findings.

  He and Mike Hecht are at loggerheads over the issue. Nilton says he’s not even sure he’s going to come back for the end of the primary mission. He feels like he needs to continue to experiment and the MECA team isn’t willing to let him use their lab. The only way to test his hypothesis now is to return to Michigan and do the work at his lab. Nilton promises me an update as soon as possible. Hecht doesn’t want to talk about it.

  At kickoff, Ray insists the TEGA bake gets in the plan, even if there are power constraints.

  “We should consider some de-scopes to make it happen,” Ray says.

  That means removing other power activities from the plan so they can get the TEGA perchlorate results ASAP. Mike Mellon shakes his head.

  Chuck Fellows, from TEGA, interrupts.

  “I don’t think it’s possible. The spacecraft team asked us to pull the TEGA bake,” Chuck says. After carefully modeling the power consumption, they’re worried about drawing down the batteries. They don’t feel comfortable with the margin they’ve left themselves. Since depleting the batteries could be catastrophic, they’re not willing to take the risk. Ray yields to the spacecraft team’s judgment. TEGA is cut from the plan. We’ll have to wait.

  MIKE MELLON FLAGS ISSUES FOR TOMORROW’S PLAN, MAKING NOTES to remind himself of the open issues and potential problems.

  “Data passes … where will the TEGA sample come from? How will they deliver to the partially opened TA-5 doors? They’ll need RAC stereo of Cupboard for further trenching,” Mike talks to himself in lander code.