The Phoenix has landed!

Good news for all who like space science:


"PASADENA, Calif. - A NASA spacecraft plunged into the atmosphere of
Mars and landed in the Red Planet's northern polar region on Sunday to
begin 90 days of digging in the permafrost to look for evidence of the
building blocks of life.

"Cheers swept through mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory when the touchdown signal from the Phoenix Mars Landers was
detected after a nailbiting descent.

" "In my dreams it couldn't have gone as perfectly as it went,"
project manager Barry Goldstein said. "It went right down the middle."

"Among Phoenix's first tasks were to check its power supply and the
health of its science instruments, and unfurl its solar panels after
the dust settled. Mission managers said there would be a two-hour
blackout period as Phoenix conducted the checks while out of view from
Earth.

"Phoenix plunged into the Martian atmosphere at more than 12,000 mph
after a 10-month, 422 million-mile voyage through space.

"It performed a choreographed dance that included unfurling its
parachute, shedding its heat shield and backshell, and firing
thrusters to slow to a 5 mph touchdown."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/phoenix_mars

And it has a chance of seeing bacteria-like organisms, if these exist
in its samples. Showing that they weren't contamination might be
difficult, of course.

Regardless of that, it should be quite interesting to find out more
about the polar regions of Mars, which have not been visited
previously by landers.

Glen Davidson
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7

.

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