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NASA probe lands on Mars
Topic Started: May 26 2008, 07:58 AM (255 Views)
Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Link to full article.

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander touched down safely today on the Red Planet, where the probe will sift through the icy soil for any signs that it once harbored life.

``We've passed the hardest part and we're breathing again,'' Mars Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein said, according to NASA. The Red Planet's rocky terrain and equipment problems have led to the failure of more than half of all Mars missions, including a Phoenix predecessor destroyed in 1999.

Phoenix sent a signal confirming it landed safely in the northern polar region of Mars, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on its Web site. The message took 15 minutes to travel to Earth from Mars at the speed of light.

The probe is part of NASA's current theme in Mars exploration: follow the water. Ice is plentiful beneath the red soil and the space agency wants to know whether liquids also exist underground. ``Where there tends to be water on Earth, there tends to be life,'' Lynn Craig of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in an interview. ``So it's potentially a place where life could have existed.''

After its landing, Phoenix relayed pictures from the planet showing the plain and horizon, a foot of the craft on the soil and its solar panels extended so that it will be able to generate power, according to NASA.

Link to one of first images of surface sent by probe
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sarah_blueparrot
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Fulla-Carp
Nice image, Dewey :lol2:

Here's another: Posted Image
Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding its cocoon. It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow.

- Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
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Mark
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HOLY CARP!!!
Damn them and their budgets! Look at the resolution of the surface they get to shoot! :weeping:

Our best attempts at Mars. We were not planetary photographers. Many many amateurs obtained much better results than these but planetary photography is a whole different ball game than deep space photography.

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

The last one is my favorite. The Telescope used was a modest 5 inch (130mm) aperture and was a production prototype Maksutov Cassegrain that Astro-Physics built as a proof of concept product.
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sarah_blueparrot
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Fulla-Carp
Still very impressive, Mark :thumb:
Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding its cocoon. It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow.

- Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
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RosemaryTwo
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HOLY CARP!!!
I watched the landing unfold last night, fascinating stuff. It's so hard to comprehend that we shot a space pod to another planet, and are now receiving photos from it. It feels like a Hollywood set, but no, that's a whole different planet. No pianos there.
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
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George K
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Finally
They got a picture of it!

A Photo of the Descent

PASADENA, California (Reuters) - A sharp-eyed Mars orbiter snapped an image of sister probe Phoenix descending through Martian skies toward a polar landing site to search for water and assess conditions for life, mission managers said on Monday.

Phoenix touched down at 4:53 p.m. PDT (7:53 p.m. EDT/2353 GMT) on Sunday, becoming the first spacecraft to reach a polar region of Mars. Problems during descent doomed NASA's first polar lander in 1999.

The unprecedented image, taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as a result of careful planning and good luck, shows the small probe dangling beneath its parachute.

Features of the planet's face, including polygon-shaped patterns in the frozen arctic soil, can be seen faintly in the background.

Posted Image
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Piano*Dad
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Bull-Carp
That is an absolutely awe inspiring photograph. But then again, I've been a space junkie since 1963. :lol:

I just hope the ice is a few centimeters inches under the surface instead of a few meters under the surface where they happened to land. A little bad luck could be a whole lot of hurt.
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Here's a great photo of Mars.

Posted Image

A few interesting facts about Mars:

First colonized in 1873.
The movie Kingpin was shot there (explains alot)
Despite many suspicions, no celebrities were born there.
With a population of under 2000, it's highly doubtful that all men are from there.
And apparantly, that population is bunch of bitter, God fearing, gun clinging, xenophobes. (Source: Barack Obama)

The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
What, no Walmart? :blink:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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JBryan
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I am the grey one
Walmart never really got off the ground.
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
Next, they'll be probing Uranus.

As for Walmart.... O wait:

Posted Image
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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JBryan
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I am the grey one
That is some rough parking.
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
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Piano*Dad
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Bull-Carp
No problem. Just drive one of these ....



Posted Image
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