It’s really amazing who, and what, you’ll run across on the social networking site Facebook these days. For instance, a couple of months ago I became friends with the Phoenix Mars Lander. Phoenix, as you might know, is a robotic spacecraft that has been sent to Mars to study the geologic history of water on the red planet and how well suited Mars’ soil might be for harboring life.

After exchanging some messages with Phoenix we decided it would be great fun for both of us if Phoenix did an interview for Neural Gourmet. We spent the next few weeks, when Phoenix got to take a break from her work on Mars, talking about herself, working on Mars, and the important science she is doing. This is the first half of our exclusive interview with Phoenix. You can find the second half of this interview here.

Neural Gourmet: First of all, let me say just how excited I am to be interviewing you. You’re the first robotic lander I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to. Phoenix Mars Lander is a little bit unwieldy though, so do you mind if I call you Phoenix, or do you have a nickname that everybody on the team calls you?

Phoenix: If you really wanna get into shortcuts, you can call me PHX, but I prefer Phoenix.

Neural Gourmet: Hah! PHX might be great for robots and NASA mission controllers, but I think I’ll stick with Phoenix then.

Neural Gourmet: Speaking of talking, how is it we’re communicating right now? How do you talk to everybody on Earth, and who helps you use Facebook and Twittr? And do you talk to any of the other landers and orbiters on Mars?

Phoenix: I make every effort to talk to as many people back on Earth as possible! I love meeting people from all over the world. Since there’s about a 15 minute delay between Mars and Earth, I have a few helpers. My Twitter is run by Veronica McGregor at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. My Facebook is maintained by two undergraduate students. Keri Bean’s a meterology major at Texas A&M University, and Patricia Wroblewski is a physics/astronomy major at the University of Arizona. They’re really good people and they do a great job. I do chat with Spirit & Opportunity a lot on Facebook, and in fact, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and its moon impactor companion, the Solar Dynamics observatory, the Mars rovers, and I have started a lunch club called the SLC - Spacecraft Lunch Club! To talk with Earth, I first talk to the Mars Reconniassance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, or Mars Express, and they relay my information back home. I owe them so much for doing that for me!

Neural Gourmet: We’ve heard in the news about some of the exciting things you’ve done recently but we don’t hear a whole lot about just what kind of robot Phoenix is. So tell us a little bit about yourself. What are your interests? Do you have any hobbies?

Phoenix: I really like everything space! Not only is the work being done on Mars cool, but the other spacecraft, everyone from Voyager to Hubble, is doing something awesome. I also have on me the first library on Mars stored in a DVD, so sometimes I’ll read some books. Sometimes I like to pretend I’m at the beach and play around in the sand.

Neural Gourmet: That’s right! I remember reading about the DVD the Planetary Society placed on you in the news last year. Among the signatures, slideshows narrated by the likes of Arthur C. Clarke and Carl Sagan, and other goodies, there’s a science fiction library of stories about Mars. Do you have a favorite?

Phoenix: Well there’s so many awesome things on board, it’s hard to pick a favorite. The War of the Worlds may possibly be my favorite though. However, I would like to state I don’t think any Martians will be attacking anytime soon.

Neural Gourmet: Of all the science fiction stories on your DVD, the one I liked the best was Kim Stanley Robinson’s Green Mars (the middle book of his Mars trilogy). The reason his Mars trilogy so much is because he paid so much attention to the science that I felt like I knew what it was really like to live on Mars. Have you had a chance to read that novel and if so, how much did he get right? What did he get wrong?

Phoenix: I’m afraid I haven’t read it yet, so maybe one of these evenings when I don’t have much to do, I’ll read it.

Neural Gourmet: I understand that you’re an avid baker and you’ve brought along a sort of Easy-Bake Oven. What kinds of things will you be baking on Mars?

Phoenix: I brought an oven with me because even Martians need an Easy Bake Oven! Although the stuff I bake isn’t exactly tasty. I get to scoop up layers of the Martian soil and stick it into my oven named TEGA, or the Thermal Evolved Gas Analyzer. When I bake the stuff, I do it in steps. I do “temperature ramps” where I’ll quickly reach a certain temperature and see what happens. I can get my oven up to 1000 degrees Celcius! once I bake the soil, I look at what gases come out and by monitoring the gases, I can tell what is in the soil.

Neural Gourmet: What else would you like people to know about yourself?

Phoenix: A lot of people ask why scientists are so pessimistic about me coming back once winter is over, since the rovers Spirit & Opportunity did so. Well, once winter sets in, I’m going to be covered in dry ice, or carbon dioxide ice. That stress will probably snap wires and possibly make my solar panels snap off. If that happens, I will definitely not be able to come back to life. However, if I do survive, my software is programmed to wake me up.

Neural Gourmet: That’s terrible! Are you sad about the prospect of dying (not being able to wake up after the winter because of damage caused by freezing/thawing)? Could humans still repair you if they ever make it to Mars?

Phoenix: I won’t be too sad to die because I’ll have given the scientists back on Earth really important information, and since I’ve found water ice, we know that life could possibly survive there.

Neural Gourmet: Humans would have to wear space suits on Mars to protect them against the cold and make sure they have enough air to breathe. How did the engineers make sure you would survive on Mars long enough to do all the things you want to do?

Phoenix: I participated in several tests. During something called a TVAC test, or thermal vacuum test, my instruments are put in vacuum chambers that had less than four percent of Earth’s pressure, and I was cooled and heated well beyond my expected temperature ranges and was in there for at least three times my expected lifetime. My engineers wanted to make sure I could face any challenge!

Neural Gourmet: Can you tell me about some of the humans on your team? What are they like to work with? Are they real slave drivers or do they give you a chance to just sit back and take in the view?

Phoenix: The people back at the Science Operations Center in Tucson, Arizona, Lockheed Martin in Denver, Colorado, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California are really nice! My daddy, Peter Smith, is really funny. He reminds me of Santa Claus because of how nice he is and he’s always jolly! how appropriate I’m near the north pole. All the scientists and engineers on my team take care of me and make sure I’m not sick and I have enough power to keep me going. While most of the time they are very serious, they can be quite funny and open! A lot of people think scientists are reclusive nerds who do nothing but program computers and watch scifi, but my mommies and daddies are really friendly! They recently celebrated the alignment of solstices by talking to scientists on Earth’s south pole and I took an image during my summer solstice to dedicate to them.