Mars mission scientist shares his thoughts

January 20, 10:56 PMArizona Family ExaminerSue Thurman

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Pat Woida is a rocket scientist in Arizona, who has dedicated the last five years to working on the cameras for the Phoenix Mars Robot. It was launched on August 4, 2007 and landed on Mars May 25, 2008.

Even with these incredible accomplishments, this rocket scientist says the one word “dad” says it all. He has three wonderful kids and considers himself, an overall nice guy.

Woida thinks there must be intelligent life elsewhere and we may find other life in our solar system, because we know the requirements for life are everywhere. In relationship to Mars, he feels we may find life did once exist there. If other intelligent life is out there in space, we may just not be equipped to detect or contact them.

Our abilities to communicate with other life forms such as Orca and Primates is limited, it seems they do better at understanding us. Until we can communicate effectively with those animals who share our common heritage in this world, I think it’s unlikely we could comprehend or be understood by those from another world. Our entire civilization has only existed a few thousand years. Our ability to explore the heavens is merely decades compared to the expanse of billions of years. To have concurrent intelligence on worlds close enough to support active communications or awareness is probably too great a challenge for the physical world.

What about life on Mars?
Missions have discovered evidence of water, energy sources, and nutrients, which are the keys to a habitable environment. However this is part of the debate currently going on over the necessary elements to sustain life. Evidence has been found, but during the short time span of the Phoenix Mission, there is no proof of them all being present concurrently.

They have discovered that the pH on Mars is the same as that of our Earth oceans and the arctic of Mars is more hospitable than hostile. This was a major change in our view of life on Mars. Plumes of Methane are yet another brick to build the case for life.

What is the time delay of pictures transmitted from Mars back to Earth?
Mars and Earth were moving apart during the mission, which caused a lag time of up to 40 minutes. There were also blackout periods when the orbiters were behind Mars.
 

What drew Woida to the space program?

I grew up with the space race and my father encouraged me to pursue a career in space sciences, and my heroes were astronauts. I really wanted to grow up to be Carl Sagan. Someone who could not only comprehend the entire universe, but like him, was able to share and explain that insight to others. You’re talking to the guy who always assumed the role of Mr. Spock when I was a kid playing Star Trek with my friends.

His favorite part of the Phoenix Mission was receiving the first footpad image on landing day.

How is the University of Arizona team involved in the missions?

The team created and delivered the camera systems and TEGA. The Science Operations in Tucson ran the mission after landing and provided mission operations training during the flight to Mars.

What does Woida hope to discover about other planets during his lifetime?

Well first we need to find what pockets of life do exist, or could exist in the future. Those worlds (Europa) need to be preserved like a planetary game preserve. For those worlds we can adapt, we should then terra form them to support the expansion of humanity.