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Mars Phoenix Lander Given The Go

Posted by Zonk on from the to-boldly-go dept.

stlhawkeye writes "The BBC is running an article which indicates that NASA has green-lit Phoenix, the next Mars mission. NASA also has some details on the mission, which is centered around locating water on the red planet. Originally planned as part of the 2001 Mars Surveyor mission, the lander would launch in 2007. Among the more interesting plans for the mission is a new type of camera to photograph the landing site just before touchdown, and a robotic arm to claw through three feet of soil. The lander would touchdown near the polar ice cap. The mission is characterized as the first 'scout' mission for possible manned landing in the future."

9 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Late Breaking News by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Panic swept through the community today as the Council of Elders confirmed the rumours that the sinister blue plane third from our star is preparing to send yet another of its mechanized invaders to ravage our peaceful world.

    K'Breel, Speaker for the Council, stressed yet again that there was no cause for alarm:

    "By now, it is obvious to even the most peaceful among us that there must be war. But fear not...the glorious Council has spent much time preparing contingincies for such a distasteful eventuality. The impudent inhabitants of the evil blue planet will find us no easy prey. Even now, preparations are being made to launch our vast war effort, where countless young podlings will find glory and honor as we crush the enemy beneath our tendrils."

    When asked to comment upon an alleged image of the latest invader, circulated by a cabal of rogue scientists, K'Breel declined.
    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  2. Will Phoenix be renamed ... by xmas2003 · · Score: 5, Funny

    To Firebird?

    --
    Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
  3. I dont get it ... by JustNiz · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why would Nasa want to land a probe in Phoenix?

    1. Re:I dont get it ... by rubycodez · · Score: 4, Funny

      there is mounting evidence that there may indeed be intelligent life there, rather than just golfers and tourists.

  4. Further late breaking news by Steve_Jobs_HNIC · · Score: 5, Funny

    NASA administrator Paul Brown was quoted as saying "We've recently discovered a pervious mission with the name Phoenix, therefor we'll need to change the name to Firebird."

    This was quickly followed up by another response "Actually we've found another mission with the name Firebird, so uhhh.... we're gonna settle with FireFox".

    And a few moments later, "OK, fuckit, we're just gonna call it WammyJoMammy. Take that ya name hoggin bastards"

  5. More than just planned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Originally part of the 2001 Mars Surveyor Program, the spacecraft that was built and tested to fly with the Mars Polar Lander mission was stored after the loss of the Surveyor. Renamed Phoenix, the craft is in preparation to finally take flight.

    The damn thing was built and tested. This Phoenix is literally off the shelf.

    I do wonder what elements of this design may have changed if say it had been designed in response to the recent lander successes we have had.

  6. A few useful links by waynegoode · · Score: 4, Informative
    A few useful links:
  7. "Possible Manned Landing" by Cr0w+T.+Trollbot · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I would be quite interested to learn more details about this "possible manned landing" mentioned in the article. I would especially like to hear that NASA is putting more time, money, and effort into this than the orbiting white elephant known as the "International Space Station," and that they're working on a replacement vehicle (or even a beanpoll or orbital elevator) to replace the antiquated kludge known as the space shuttle.

    When I was growing up, I expected us to have made a manned landing on Mars by now. I fear that NASA's bureauscoliocis has made that event ever-more unlikely under the current bureaucracy.

    Crow T. Trollbot

  8. Re:If they want to find water on mars... by joncue · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That's the southern pole, the northern pole has much higher concentration of water ice. The latest theory on the reason is that the closest thing mars has to a jet stream runs from the south to the north, which evaporates the water ice and re-deposits it on the northern pole.

    Here's the story:

    http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/ mars_poles_020320.html