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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



Registered: 03/06/03
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Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT!
#8443211 - 05/25/08 10:33 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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For the benefit of my fellow space nerds out there, I thought I should mention that NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander will land on the surface of Mars later this evening. This spacecraft had launched last August and has spent the intervening months traveling the 36 million miles to the red planet. If all goes well it will touchdown near the polar region of Mars and deploy it's scientific equipment in an attempt to probe for life as well as the conditions that would have made life possible in the past. It is more or less a mobile geology lab, and as those of you who know I'm a geologist could guess, I get very excited over things like this.
This lander is a twin of the Mars Polar Lander that was lost in 2001 due to mechanical failure upon entry in the Martian atmosphere. I subscribe to NASA's podcast and the launch director was saying yesterday that while they are relatively confident they got the problems fixed which had caused the earlier problems, he (the launch manager) is still deathly afraid that they missed something.
So this all goes down at about 7:39 PM EST tonight. At that time the spacecraft will begin it's very shallow descent into the atmosphere. During the initial 8 minutes of re-entry, the superheated gasses flowing over the sides of the spacecraft's heat shield will not allow communication with the communications satellites in Martian orbit. So the launch team will be completely blind for that period of time, and it's only once the spacecraft has descended into the lower levels of the atmosphere and the frictional forces are reduced that anyone will know whether or not this phase of the landing was successful.
And even after this, the spacecraft must still descend under a parachute for many miles, then be dropped and lower itself to the surface using a series of hydrazine rockets. To me, it sounds dangerous and NASA hasn't done a landing like this in over 35 years. Both of the rovers STILL functioning on the surface of Mars were lowered to the ground in large inflatable bags and then allowed to bounce across the surface to their resting place. That seems much more a "sure thing" to me than this insane combination of free fall and parachutes and hydrazine rockets.
We'll see what happens. I'm excited.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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cottlestonpie
wanderer



Registered: 01/18/03
Posts: 800
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Madtowntripper]
#8443284 - 05/25/08 11:18 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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yes ive been following this story as well and i find it pretty exciting. Ive been reading about this color calibration thing to help get the hues right on mars photos. I hope they show us some stellar photographs with the right colors.
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: cottlestonpie]
#8443297 - 05/25/08 11:27 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Please keep conspiracy theory nonsense somewhere other than this thread.
Thanks.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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usg543
◕‿◕


Registered: 02/11/07
Posts: 5,192
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Madtowntripper]
#8443600 - 05/25/08 01:14 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
cottlestonpie said: yes ive been following this story as well and i find it pretty exciting. Ive been reading about this color calibration thing to help get the hues right on mars photos. I hope they show us some stellar photographs with the right colors.
i'm interested to know more about this.
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carpetmunch
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Madtowntripper]
#8443615 - 05/25/08 01:18 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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I was not aware of this. thanks for posting it. I find stuff like this really exciting. Any TV satellite stations covering this that anyone knows about?
cm
-------------------- You gotta do what you gotta do. Sometimes you gotta munch cactus, some times you gotta munch carpet!
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Baby_Hitler
Errorist




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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: carpetmunch]
#8443725 - 05/25/08 02:08 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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NASA TV channels
* Dish Network: 213 * DIRECTV: 283 * VDC - Virtual Digital Cable: 230 * Comcast Cable: 136 in most locations
-------------------- This space for rent
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Baby_Hitler]
#8443990 - 05/25/08 04:08 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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And NASA.com will have streaming coverage, I'm sure.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



Registered: 03/06/03
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Madtowntripper]
#8444065 - 05/25/08 04:32 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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MonkeyRacket
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Madtowntripper]
#8444083 - 05/25/08 04:41 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Thanks for the info MTT. The parachute and hydrazine rocket combination sounds like a disaster waiting to happen but I really do hope all goes well.
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Annom
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Madtowntripper]
#8444244 - 05/25/08 05:42 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Atmosphere entry in 5 minutes!
-- Spacecraft enters atmosphere, 4:46:33 p.m. -- Likely blackout period as hot plasma surrounds spacecraft, 4:47 through 4:49 p.m. -- Parachute deploys, 4:50:15 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. -- Heat shield jettisoned, 4:50:30 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. -- Legs deploy, 4:50:40 p.m., plus or minus about 13 seconds. - - Radar activated, 4:51:30 p.m. -- Lander separates from backshell, 4:53:09 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Transmission gap during switch to helix antenna 4:53:08 to 4:53:14 p.m. -- Descent thrusters throttle up, 4:53:12 p.m. -- Constant-velocity phase starts, 4:53:34 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Touchdown, 4:53:52 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Lander radio off 4:54:52 p.m., plus or minus about 46 seconds. -- Begin opening solar arrays (during radio silence) 5:13 p.m. -- Begin NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter playback of Phoenix transmissions recorded during entry, descent and landing, 5:28 p.m. However, data for analysis will not be ready until several hours later. -- Begin Europe's Mars Express spacecraft playback of Phoenix transmissions recorded during entry, descent and landing, 5:30 p.m. However, data for analysis will not be ready until several hours later. -- Post-landing poll of subsystem teams about spacecraft status, 5:30 p.m. -- Mars Odyssey "bent-pipe" relay of transmission from Phoenix, with engineering data and possibly including first images, 6:43 to 7:02 p.m. Data could take up to about 30 additional minutes in pipeline before being accessible. If all goes well, live television feed from control room may show first images as they are received. The first images to be taken after landing will be of solar arrays, to check deployment status. -- News briefing, 9 p.m.
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Vanguard


Registered: 09/30/05
Posts: 1,347
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: MonkeyRacket]
#8444245 - 05/25/08 05:42 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Cruise stage separation! here we go...
-------------------- -=Check my Gallery=-
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Annom
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Registered: 12/22/02
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Vanguard]
#8444271 - 05/25/08 05:53 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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1800 m... 1500 m...
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Annom
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Registered: 12/22/02
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Annom]
#8444275 - 05/25/08 05:54 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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landed
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Vanguard


Registered: 09/30/05
Posts: 1,347
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Vanguard]
#8444279 - 05/25/08 05:56 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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that went well.
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Annom
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Vanguard]
#8444285 - 05/25/08 05:57 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Xeluc
Traveler



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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Vanguard]
#8444286 - 05/25/08 05:57 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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I can't wait until it starts actually surveying!
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



Registered: 03/06/03
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Vanguard]
#8444287 - 05/25/08 05:57 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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W/out a hitch, apparently!
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



Registered: 03/06/03
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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Madtowntripper]
#8444293 - 05/25/08 06:00 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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I was reading earlier that they expect the lander to last until winter when the Martian polar ice caps expand and the lander may be covered in several feet of ice!
Craziness!
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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b0b gnarley
Hold my beer and watch this!



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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: Madtowntripper]
#8444404 - 05/25/08 06:37 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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This is nuts, what exactly are they looking for, primitive bacteria?
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Xeluc
Traveler



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Re: Astronomy Notes -- Mars Landing TONIGHT! [Re: b0b gnarley]
#8444410 - 05/25/08 06:39 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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"organic compounds" Be it bacteria or other organic compounds that suggest life.
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