As you digest hot dogs or tend to one of your geektastic Memorial Day grilling machines today, take a moment to consider NASA’s Phoenix Lander, which is scheduled to touch down on Mars this evening. At about 8 p.m. EST, the multimillion dollar lander will enter the Red Planet’s atmosphere and experience what CNN is calling “seven minutes of terror” (worry not, I checked the story and it has nothing to do with the Lander being in a closet with Paris Hilton). Then, during a manoeuvre that puts any earthbound supercar’s brakes to shame, Phoenix will slow itself from approximately 21,000 kilometres per hour to about eight in the space of six to seven minutes. Want to follow the probe’s wild ride? There are a few sites covering the evening event live listed after the jump.
As you digest hot dogs or tend to one of your geektastic
Tom’s Astronomy Blog has assembled a list of Mars Lander links today:
CNN with Miles O’Brien streams the landing live later tonight.
NASA TV has web and TV coverage
Telescope coverage will be provided by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Green Bank Telescope
You should be aware that NASA has the odds stacked against it when it comes to off world remote control landings. To date, only five of thirteen landing attempts have been successful. NASA notes there will be a 15-minute delay between the landing and a confirmation, due to distance, so… *finger crossed* [Tom's Astronomy Blog]
Andrea Mitchell
Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 3:28 AMWhen we first gazed at the moon through powerful telescopes, the moon appeared to be full of dirt and rocks. However, we were not convinced so we sent astronauts there. They brought back samples for scientists to analyze and it was confirmed that indeed, this was just dirt and rocks. However, we were not convinced so we went to the moon another dozen times or so just to really be sure it was real dirt and real rocks.
When we first gazed at Mars through powerful telescopes it appeared to be a mysterious planet. Our early flybys of this planet revealed a terrain full of dirt and rocks. However, we were not convinced so we sent Rover there. The little robotic vehicle traversed the topography sending back pictures and data and guess what? – more dirt and rocks. However, we were not convinced so we sent Phoenix there. It landed safely and started analyzing the soil and sending beautifully detailed images of a Martian landscape full of … dirt and rocks.
But wait, this is different. The Phoenix landed in the North Pole area in the hopes of discovering life. Its little sensors microscopically scrutinized the soil and made an amazing discovery. Mars is still full of dirt and rocks. But wait, this is different. The dirt has a pattern to it.