David, I watched the landing in real time on the NASA channel, and it was high tech high tension: my kind of reality TV!
They are there at that visually boring spot for a very good reason: ice is expected to be just beneath the surface. And they should find out very soon. I suspect it's already been seen in the smooth, white areas exposed when the thrusters blew away the surface soil directly beneath the spacecraft. I hadn't heard anything about the descent camera, but did you see the picture taken by one of the orbiters of the Phoenix descending beneath its parachute just before landing? Can you imagine the sophisticated and elegant planning involved to get these two robotic craft trajectories aligned so that this picture could be taken during a window of opportunity that was only a couple of minutes long? Roger Moore In a message dated 06/04/08 09:10:00 Central Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: Is everybody excited about the news from the Mars Phoenix Lander? It appears they landed in such a boring place that nobody is going to care what they find. The weather yesterday was was sunny with moderate dust, with a high of -30° C and a low of -80° C. I am guessing that is colder than the Earth's north pole during the summer time. So is the lander experiencing a Martian winter or summer? And what is it going to be like during a storm? Does Mars have storms? I heard a rumor that the expenisive descent camera didn't work on the mission. it was supposed to take pictures and record sounds as the lander was descending. I think the only thing we can conclude from this expensive mission is that this region is not a good place to send an astronaut. They would go stir crazy from boredom in a matter of days. It does look like there are enough rocks on Mars that an astronaut could easily construct a nice house using Gorilla glue as the mortar, assuming this glue can harden in such a cold climate. I think NASA needs to send a lander to mars with drilling capability, at least down to 10 feet. I also think that NASA needs to plant some earth vegetation to see how long it can survive on the Martian surface. Maybe a seedling from an apple tree? David --------------------------------------------------------------------- Give this to a friend: [email protected] To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
