100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

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Drolgin Steingrinder
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100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

Post by Drolgin Steingrinder »

IT'S HARD TO PUT YOUR FINGER ON IT; SOMETHING IS WRONG
I'M LIKE THE UNCLE WHO HUGGED YOU A LITTLE TOO LONG
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Winnow
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

Post by Winnow »

Im watching it live on the Science Channel in 30 minutes.

Right now I'm watching the net feed.

Cross your fingers! This isn't one of the air bag technique landings so it's outlook isn't as high for success.
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

Post by Boogahz »

Thanks! I forgot all about the NASA feed for this, and I didn't realize that it would be on the Science channel as well. I used to have one channel that NASA's feeds were on when I had Time Warner, but I don't think I have that with the new carrier, hehe.
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

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I get chills every time we land on Mars.

One of the few "human" achievements that I think the entire world takes pride in.

Grats to the Phoenix Lander team! Five years of hard work paid off after seven minutes of tension.
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

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You're only congratulating them because the craft has Phoenix in its name!
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

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Spang wrote:You're only congratulating them because the craft has Phoenix in its name!
Not really. It's University of Arizona, not Arizona State that's running this operation. ASU is more geared toward meteorites, asteroids and comets. Stll, both Universities in AZ are big into the space program!

The Germans and Canadians had a big hand it this mission as well!
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

Post by Drolgin Steingrinder »

and don't forget the danes ;)

The University of Aarhus and the Niels Bohr Institute have both made tech contributions.

and I love this shit. Why Mars?

"Because it's next. Because we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill and we saw fire; and we crossed the ocean and we pioneered the west, and we took to the sky. The history of man is on a timeline of explorations and this is What's next. "
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

Post by Winnow »

NASA setup a twitter account for Phoenix:

http://twitter.com/MarsPhoenix

Pretty cool. You get the latest news from the mission without having to wait for formal announcements.

Here's the main Phoenix site:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix/main.php

They're fired up over seeing ice underneath the lander that was exposed by the landing thrusters:

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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

Post by Boogahz »

Closer to confirming that it was, indeed, ice under the lander:

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/06_19_pr.php
Bright Chunks At Phoenix Lander's Mars Site Must Have Been Ice

June 19, 2008 -- Dice-size crumbs of bright material have vanished from inside a trench where they were photographed by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander four days ago, convincing scientists that the material was frozen water that vaporized after digging exposed it.

"It must be ice," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. "These little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few days, that is perfect evidence that it's ice. There had been some question whether the bright material was salt. Salt can't do that."

The chunks were left at the bottom of a trench informally called "Dodo-Goldilocks" when Phoenix's Robotic Arm enlarged that trench on June 15, during the 20th Martian day, or sol, since landing. Several were gone when Phoenix looked at the trench early today, on Sol 24.

Also early today, digging in a different trench, the Robotic Arm connected with a hard surface that has scientists excited about the prospect of next uncovering an icy layer.

The Phoenix science team spent Thursday analyzing new images and data successfully returned from the lander earlier in the day.

Studying the initial findings from the new "Snow White 2" trench, located to the right of "Snow White 1," Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, co-investigator for the robotic arm, said, "We have dug a trench and uncovered a hard layer at the same depth as the ice layer in our other trench."

On Sol 24, Phoenix extended the first trench in the middle of a polygon at the "Wonderland" site. While digging, the Robotic Arm came upon a firm layer, and after three attempts to dig further, the arm went into a holding position. Such an action is expected when the Robotic Arm comes upon a hard surface.

Meanwhile, the spacecraft team at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is preparing a software patch to send to Phoenix in a few days so scientific data can again be saved onboard overnight when needed. Because of a large amount a duplicative file-maintenance data generated by the spacecraft Tuesday, the team is taking the precaution of not storing science data in Phoenix's flash memory, and instead downlinking it at the end of every day, until the conditions that produced those duplicative data files are corrected.

"We now understand what happened, and we can fix it with a software patch," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. "Our three-month schedule has 30 days of margin for contingencies like this, and we have used only one contingency day out of 24 sols. The mission is well ahead of schedule. We are making excellent progress toward full mission success."

Click Here for images associated with this press release.
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

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The twitter link I posted above is a great way to follow this mission:

http://twitter.com/MarsPhoenix
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

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Ice on Mars? That's great! I've got ice in my fucking freezer!

Let me know when they find dirt!
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

Post by Asheran Mojomaster »

Spang wrote:Ice on Mars? That's great! I've got ice in my fucking freezer!

Let me know when they find dirt!
Well, with ice we could possibly set up a semi-permanent base. Mars has a lot of carbon dioxide, some oxygen, and a little methane. Take over a bunch of soil, seeds, and grow plants to turn the CO2 into oxygen. Then bring in extra oxygen and water from the surrounding air and soil, and with the right equipment you could have a sustainable habitat for humans inside an enclosed area. It may not be likely on our first visit, but if we send enough supplies over we could start to colonize a new planet.
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

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I realize that. I wasn't being serious.

How soon till they build a Starbucks?
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

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Spang wrote:I realize that. I wasn't being serious.

How soon till they build a Starbucks?
I'd guess about a month after the first permanent base goes up.
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Re: 100 minutes to touchdown - Phoenix landing

Post by Al »

It'd be at least a year, coffee isn't easy to grow. Unless they brought a supply of beans, then in a week or two, tops.
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