NASA Phoenix Mission Ready For Mars Landing 101
Several readers relayed the press release from JPL about the upcoming landing of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander on May 25. It's going to set down in the north polar regions and look for indications of whether conditions have ever been favorable for microbial life. "Phoenix will enter the top of the Martian atmosphere at almost 21,000 kilometers per hour... In seven minutes, the spacecraft must complete a challenging sequence of events to slow to about 8 kilometers per hour... before its three legs reach the ground. Confirmation of the landing could come as early as 7:53 p.m. EDT. 'This is not a trip to grandma's house. Putting a spacecraft safely on Mars is hard and risky,' said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. 'Internationally, fewer than half the attempts have succeeded.'"
Good article and GREAT PICTURES of the Phoenix (Score:5, Informative)
#space on irc.freenode.net Phoenix Landing Party (Score:5, Informative)
Re:fewer than half? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes. The details are hidden away on wikipedia where you'll never find them! Some details:
Mars 2 (1971): Landed but lost contact within minutes
Mars 3 (1971): Same
Viking 1 (1974): Landed and remained operational for 6 years
Viking 2 (1974): Landed and remained operational for 3 years
Phobos 1 (1988): Lost on the way to Mars
Phobos 2 (1988): Got into orbit, took some photos, then failed
The more recent ones you probably know about. To be fair, the Phobos 1 and 2 missions were planning to land on Phobos, not Mars, so maybe they don't count.
Re:Slow to about 8 kilometers per hour. (Score:2, Informative)
treble (trb'l) adj. meaning Triple
Perfectly valid English in every English dialect and has been for hundreds of years (Answers.com actually pointed me at a George Eliot quote as an example of its use). Treble sounds better in a sentence such as that one (it matches better with "double" than triple would and feels more natural for most native English-speakers) and there are certain places where we British prefer treble to triple (triple is usually an action, "he tripled the number" whereas treble is usually a statement "awarded treble damages") although they are very mix-and-match. You can even have trebled, trebling, trebles (nothing to do with Star Trek).
Don't Forget the Space Race! (Score:3, Informative)
Martian Scorecard: 50% (Score:5, Informative)