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The Phoenix Has Landed
Iddo Genuth writes "Precisely at 7:53PM EST, the "Phoenix Mars Lander" touched-down on the desert-like surface of Mars. Since its launch on August 4th, 2007, the spacecraft has covered more than 680,752,512 kilometers, traveling at average speeds of around 120,000 km/hr. Upon arriving at its destination, the Phoenix will begin its exploration of our intriguing neighbor planet, in a mission to help astronomers resolve at least some of the many questions regarding Mars. The key question remains: can the Red Planet support some form of life?" Hella grats to our nerd brethren — you looked great on the Science channel. Yes I'm watching this live. Can't wait to see what happens next.
Update: 05/26 03:0 GMT by KD : zof sends a link to the first pictures from Phoenix.
Update: 05/26 03:0 GMT by KD : zof sends a link to the first pictures from Phoenix.
Can't imagine it's very live what with the lightspeed delay..
But then... what if they do find evidence of life? I mean large, complex forms of life, not some fossilized bacteria that everyone will debate and bitch about. That's what I'm hoping they dig up.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
To have a successful landing of this sort on Mars is brilliant, and continues to build hope that there might be a manned mission there in my lifetime, I can only hope.
Ever since I read the Mars Trilogy (red, green, blue) I have really hoped that it could come true in some way like those books show. (not all the bad obviously)... I would love to see it start, I really would.
Ground stations no longer receiving signals because Earth was destroyed by a meteorite
That would really suck
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
... to those scientists that worked hard and put both heart and soul for at least a decade on Phoenix. I can't wait to see what images and data we get from Phoenix.
It's going to be an eventful summer here on Earth, that's for sure.
Oh yeah... We all heard that before.
What?
Great job, JPL & Arizona!
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
Knowing some of the engineers that work on and manage these programs I am very happy with landing and everything it represents. More so I am looking forward to other robots, not the rover type but different task oriented machines like Robonaut and Chariot to make it off of Earth!
One day the world of robotics will have the answer.
I understand your point. Just so we're all clear, though; Phoenix sits on legs, not wheels, so there will be no 'puttering around' the pole.
Years ago, we put vikings up on mars. The more amazing in that they were nuke powered. Now, we fight about it all the time. Even phoenix would be better served had it been nuke powered. But now, about half of the ppl do not want human systems going, another group fights sending nuke power up, and another wants NASA dead altogether. Back in the 60's and 70's, we all came together on saying that ALL of this was important; Long term robotic probes AND human missions AND the environment (as we understood it). It was not one vs. the other.
A couple of days ago, I mentioned that the reason for human missions to the moon was because of uranium/plutonium. Yet, ppl were upset about what a waste human missions were without realizing that we could fire up new MUCH LARGER missions to mars and elsewhere and let them use plutonium. I never bought off on W's idea that the moon would be a good launch pad based on the hydrogen that is there. But if we have LOADS of plutonium, that is a different matter. We can easily rail launch missions combined with large amount of energy via plutonium without worrying about it being spread all over the earth's atmosphere. Hopefully, at some point, Americans realize that one idea does not need to preclude another. For instance, human missions do not need to prevent robotics from going (or vs. versa).
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Ice on the surface is further north, but they expect the top meter of soil to be about 80% ice at the landing site.
Phoenix Mars Lander Touched Down 2 Hours ago
was I the only one who saw the phoenix project logo and thought it looked remarkably similar the Firefox logo? Firefox was originally called phoenix was it not? Coincidence? I think not!
Units.
Phoenix went exactly 423,000,000 miles at the leisurely pace of 20.7 miles a second.
Now if we had done something really COOL, like drive there in a Jeep Commander, we would have used 22,263,157 gallons of gas and been MUCH better prepared for Mars.
Someone will bitch about fuel cost. OK, look at this: at $4/gallon it would cost $108,972,294 -- that's $411,027,706 cheaper than this $520M "good deal". Jeep is currently offering a $2.99 gas lock-in which would bring the total savings to $453,433,160. I mean WOW, they could spend the rest on parties and just tell us it's really, really complicated.
Now ask if the Phoenix has 4 wheel drive. Or A/C. Or the peace of mind knowing it's fully covered under a manufacturer's warranty.
Tough to beat if you ask me..
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=313&cID=7
If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law;
Within minutes of the first downlink, pictures were available on the net.
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That's fantastic.
Here are the photos it has taken so far.
http://fawkes1.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=0&cID=7
I wish NASA wouldn't get so distracted during the "fun" part of these missions. It seems like a regular pattern, they set up frankly a pretty awesome web site, put up a countdown timer, plaster it with nice background articles and then update it very regularly ... until something happens. Then it's frozen in time for an hour or two (this time all they could come up with was "we got a signal") while they're all slapping each other five and pouring champagne into their consoles. The $420 million (or whatever it was) came out of our pockets, all I ask is that they get *one* intern to stay sober at the golden moment and clue in those of us who don't get the Science Channel.
Anyway it's great to see they pulled it off. It's weird how so many space shots worked on the first try and then we totally blew the next half-dozen tries. I blame the Martian strategic defense system.
Dammit, the University of Arizona website (which hosts the high resolution images) has been slashdotted. A few of the photos are already up on Wikipedia though, so use that if you can't get through.
The best thing they could possibly find would be a mars bar. It would be too funny if some NASA guy threw one in so that it would pop out on landing.
Phoenix Mars Lander Touched Me Liberally
Oh wait, that's kuro5hin.org. Never mind.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
The problem is not a shortage of raw materials (Pu-238 is currently made by irradiating components of otherwise useless nuclear waste.) The problem is that the steps involved in production and extraction of the isotope are dangerous, esoteric and expensive, so we haven't been doing it.
Did they launch this thing before color photography was invented?
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
I wonder why they don't have colour immagers!?
Usually they use filters to provide color for space missions. The first pass is a general survey. Filter-based color requires multiple images of the same spot, which will probably come later. Plus, they will probably use "science-friendly" filters before they use human-eye-friendly filters. Science before beauty. Just be patient...
Table-ized A.I.
Am I the only one who thinks it's ironic we are the ones putting 3 legged machines on Mars... ?
That's EASY! Take something "complex" and remove just the "imaginary" part. ;^)
It would be much simpler, safer and cheaper to simply put a small nuclear reactor in the spacecraft. Tiny reactors use ordinary cheap weapons grade uranium fuel. Before the reactor is turned on, the virgin fuel isn't even significantly radioactive, so no launch issues. Unlike RTGs, the power output of reactors can be adjusted as needed.
The Soviet Union launched a few dozen nuclear reactors into orbit in the 1970s that are still whizzing over our heads. IIRC, they had a power output in the range of hundreds of kilowatts. It's straightforward and mature technology, and it would be a good way to get rid of the excess weapons grade uranium that we have stockpiled from the cold war.
But where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
we can send a robotic spaceship 680 million miles through deep space, but cannot make an electric car. Hmmmmmm.
Particularly this one. I can make out the flag on the next green, just below the horizon. It looks like a PAR 3 with a 7-iron.
Have gnu, will travel.
09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
Those are false-color images. The real deal will be coming later.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
Those are false-color images. The real deal will be coming later.
You mean tinted, or 2-filter? They don't look tinted, for I've experimented with tinting myself on other mars missions and have learned to spot the difference, barring careful retouching. It does appear that some of the originals were taken through different filters, but its not clear which filters and how many.
Table-ized A.I.
They're 2-filtered. Violet 450-nanometer filter and an infrared, 750-nanometer filter. (As stated here.)
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
I can't tell if this satire or if the local Honkey Tonk kicked out all the philosophical regulars early. Just in case it's the latter, metrics are standard in science. Yes, even for Americans.
Better check your griddle, I think your Freedom Fries are burning.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
DISCLAIMER: I lived in a metricated country, so the measurements don't bother me at all.
Yes, an always on power source in the megawatt range is to say the least tricky. The cooling system fails even once and you have a blob of permanently molten metal on your spacecraft instead.
It has simply been easier for us to buy the stuff from Russia over the last couple of decades. (This probably has had the beneficial side effect of keeping some of their nuclear technicians gainfully employed.)