About 6 HRS.+ and we will have a burned up lander or a mission success. CNN will have live coverage starting at 7 PM. Opps meant to place this in the Topic above this. [cnredd]Moved it up to Science[/cnredd]

NASA Site: NASA - Phoenix

This site has mny links in the story.

Phoenix Lander Takes Aim at Martian Arctic : SPACE.com -- Phoenix Lander Takes Aim at Martian Arctic

By Tariq Malik
Senior Editor
posted: 01 May 2008
07:00 am ET


NASA's Mars-bound Phoenix spacecraft is gearing up for a landmark landing near the martian north pole this month to find out whether the region could have once supported microbial life.

Phoenix is on course for a planned May 25 touchdown in the martian arctic that, if successful, will mark the first powered landing on Mars since NASA's hefty Viking 2 lander set down in 1976. But first, the probe is expected to fire its thrusters several times in the next few weeks to fine-tune its flight path.

"It's scary how smooth it's been," said Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "The vehicle has just been behaving beautifully."

The Phoenix lander tweaked its course in early April and is scheduled to fire its thrusters in three successive Saturday maneuvers beginning May 10. The spacecraft has flown so accurately that one of the maneuvers may not be necessary, Goldstein said.

Launched in August 2007, Phoenix is a stationary lander equipped with a trench-digging robotic arm to bite into the martian surface and scoop up samples of nearby soil and water ice. The probe's top-mounted suite of ovens and wet chemistry instruments are designed to help determine whether its arctic plain landing site - a region similar in latitude to central Greenland or northern Alaska on Earth - could have once proven habitable for primitive life.

Thanks for the thread and links, mlurp. The first thing that usually hits my brain when there is news about our space exploration, is why we aren't further along on this whole business? I envisioned we would have colonies by now living on space stations and doing experiments on plant life and manned missions at least within our solar system. By now I naively assumed we would be going "where no man had gone before."

But this is definitely a landmark day in space exploration. I will try to keep an eye on the news and my little news-letters from science web sites, because this is one of the more interesting adventures in the field in many years!

__________________
________________________________________

CROCHET CENTRAL

CROCHET INSTRUCTIONS FOR LEFT HANDERS

THANKSGIVING MENUS AND TIPS

A GREAT PLACE TO SHOP

I think the same thing too. But the wealthy are the ones who gain from it all. Just google the many colleges with labs and science projects. Look at who befriends the programs.

Darn it. I got done to late and now not a word on th enews and the Science Channel is just going over and over about the other probes in or before 2006. Th eonly new items is water might be there which means life.

Some major event. Guess I might see a 2-3 paragraph story in the newspaper tomorrow.

NASA - Phoenix Landing Blog

SPACE.com -- Hydrothermal Vents on Mars Could Have Supported Life

SPACE.com -- Phoenix Mars Lander: Step-by-Step Martian Landing Guide




There are four more parts to the above video you can find on Youtube.


This one above is the landing. There are other aspects of it on Youtube.



That ought to keep a science hobbyist gagga for a couple of hours.

__________________
________________________________________

CROCHET CENTRAL

CROCHET INSTRUCTIONS FOR LEFT HANDERS

THANKSGIVING MENUS AND TIPS

A GREAT PLACE TO SHOP

I found this pix of the lander laanding. But I wonder how was it taken? The rovers?
Hey Salty... Nice links and thanks for moving the thread to the proper location. I clicked on the one below and never noticed till it was to late. Here is hoping the rest of the mission goes well.

That can't be a pic...I assume that's an artist's rendering...

The only other possibility, with this being Mars, is that it IS a real picture and it was taken by Ron Paul...

__________________
"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Little green men took the picture.
You're welcome, I'm sure, but cnredd, moved you to this location.

__________________
________________________________________

CROCHET CENTRAL

CROCHET INSTRUCTIONS FOR LEFT HANDERS

THANKSGIVING MENUS AND TIPS

A GREAT PLACE TO SHOP

Well he knows I am greatful and sorry to have made him do the work. I need to be more aware. lol

Found this the site has more pixs and video.

Spacecraft reveals look at Mars' polar region By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer
2 hours, 39 minutes ago

Spacecraft reveals look at Mars' polar region - Yahoo! News

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's newest outpost in the solar system is a polygon-cracked terrain in Mars' northern polar region believed to hold a reservoir of ice beneath.

Hours after the Phoenix Mars Lander softly landed Sunday in the Martian arctic plains, it dazzled scientists with the first-ever glimpse of the Red Planet's high northern latitudes.

A flood of images sent back by Phoenix revealed a landscape similar to what can be found in Earth's permafrost regions — geometric patterns in the soil likely related to the freezing and thawing of ground ice.

"This is a scientist's dream, right here on this landing site," principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson said in a post-landing news conference.

Phoenix landed on Mars after a 10-month, 422 million-mile journey. After a week checking out its science instruments, the lander will begin a 90-day digging mission to study whether the northern polar region possesses the raw ingredients needed for life to emerge.

This too, at least the head gear is green. We have much to learn... lol

You are half right according to the accompanying caption:
Phoenix Mars Lander - Yahoo! News Photos


And this next shot kinda looks like Nevada.



Phoenix Mars Lander - Yahoo! News Photos

__________________
________________________________________

CROCHET CENTRAL

CROCHET INSTRUCTIONS FOR LEFT HANDERS

THANKSGIVING MENUS AND TIPS

A GREAT PLACE TO SHOP