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The phoenix has landed! So far everything has been perfect.
Update: Phoenix is level within 1/4 of a degree. Terrific news for both geology and meteorology experiments. You can stay in touch via posts at the Discovery News space blog.
Watched everyone jumping up and down in Pasadena and Tucson – in Hi-Def on Science Channel HD. They’ll be back with updates at 11PM EDT.
Bubba Ray says there also is live coverage continuing at NASA TV online.
First Images:
The APOD archive has some amazing pictures. Here is an interesting one about large black holes in Mars. http://tiny.cc/Undergroundlifeonmars
Wy do they keep adding the red hue to the pics. Strange.
This is great stuff!!!
#22, Just for a little info, if you were to stand on the surface of mars, you would see the exact same colors.
The surface of mars is composed mostly of Iron Oxide (rust), which we know is red.
“Rovers and landers on the surface of Mars have photographed the planet’s striking sky colors, including sunrises and sunsets. On Earth, the mid-day sky is blue because of the way air molecules efficiently scatter blue light in our dense, relatively clear atmosphere. When the Sun is low in Earth’s sky, sunlight travels through much more of the air and so scattering of red light by dust and haze particles becomes more important than scattering by air molecules and our skies turn reddish and pink. On Mars, the sky color is almost totally determined by dust (only a feeble amount of molecular scattering is possible in the thin Martian atmosphere). Based on their sizes and shapes, dust particles scatter different colors of light more efficiently in certain directions, however. The mid-day Mars sky is reddish to pink because scattering of red light by fine dust particles is most efficient in that geometry. When the Sun is low, scattering of blue light is more efficient. Thus, the pinkish mid-day skies give way to bluish sunsets. Martian sky colors are to some extent opposite to those of Earth.”
http://tinyurl.com/6bdbb4
As a side note, often at sunrise and sunset the earth’s sky on the horizon is mostly red. This is because most of the blue light from the sun has been scattered due to the sunlight having traveled through more air to get to you, leaving reds and yellows.
Also, if you could buy a ticket to outer space and then look at the sun, it would be visibly greener than how it appears on earth because the blue light component has not been scattered (yellow and blue makes green, take away the blue and you are left with yellow.
So although we think of our sun as a yellow sun, it’s actually yellowish with a green tint.
If you look at this pic, our sun is actually not right inbetween the G and K, but actually at the upper G.
http://tinyurl.com/59247t
#23 – Or incorrect white balance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCcvBMu8_zE
And as another thing…
This dust in the martian atmosphere is one reason why everyone worries about how much dust is on the solar panels. On earth, the dust in the air attracts water vapor, eventually becoming so heavy that the dust falls to earth.
On mars, there is only a trace amount of water vapor and the gravity is only 38% that of earth.
What this means is the dust in the martian atmosphere can stay suspended indefinitely.
Th lander was supposed to land where there was ice. No ice in the photos, so therefore this is just another situation where the Bush administration lied.
>>therefore this is just another situation
>>where the Bush administration lied.
Heh. Heh heh. Has the Bush “administration” ever told the truth? That would warrant an entry in the Guinness Book.
btw, Mr. Benson2, your attitude towards the future First Lady (Michelle Obama) is quite odd. Are you a plain old misogynist, or do you just hate people of African descent? Either way….creepy!
#27 – Since you asked, I’ll reply but the Dvorak editor will probably censor me.
I am not partial to a hypocritical first lady who believes “the man” keeps raising the bar to make life more difficult – especially from a woman with a Ivy League degree and currently pulling down $300K+ thanks to some Illinois political high jinks.
Color me old-fashioned, but I believe a first lady should be optimistic and speak positively about this great country.
The date on the APOD page for the video is the date the APOD page itself was posted. It has nothing to do with current events or the NASA TV webcast. It’s merely the posting date for the portal to NASA TV. Double-click on the TV picture to make it full screen.
KD at Cage Match will probably update the science / pictures from the Phoenix mission. Mission control is about to be transferred to the Univ. of Arizona. Last CM article on Phoenix is here. Latest picture and references to more on CM are here.
Aside:
Ah_yea has the science right about the color of the Sun as seen from Earth and from Mars. That would be bonus points on CM.
jbenson2, there appears to be ice in the CM photo. Why blame it on the Bush Admin? I doubt they know nothing more than the $$ amount it took to put this laboratory on another planet. Heck, they probably don’t even know that.
#11 is awesome!
If #26 had been following this wonderful venture beyond Fax Snooze coverage, he might be aware that the significant quantity of ice sought in some of the experiments lies beneath a couple inches of dirt.
But, then, that would require dragging his perception and understanding of life, reality, women, politics, bigotry and war – forward from the 19th Century.
Great photos! Thanks for Posting them.
I suggest watching the video of the descent, as witnessed in the control room.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMQe6z-iC3k
I thought everyone was smiling a bit too soon while Phoenix was descending. Fortunately it was just confidence from people who knew they did the very best they could!
I thoroughly expected the lander to crash at any time, and celebrated with some Port when it didn’t!
Here is another interesting picture of Mars.
#26 – It’s gone. You can thank global warming caused by our expanding(technological) footprint.
I know it did! I was there at the soundstage out in Chatsworth that doubles for a porn studio. Amazing how they are able to simulate Mars right where they are filming Ramobone #8
Now let’s see..Mars landing..Red soil..Project Phoenix..Red soil..Sedona????:)
While you’re at it, try finding some of the proof that are stored on that same soundstage about 9/11. I bet the loons here would be very happy.
How much did this cost? NASA should mostly be shut down. They came so close to shutting down the space station 15 years ago.
>>NASA should mostly be shut down.
Fuckin’ A-Right! Most of our money should go for no-bid contracts to Halliburton. Dick Cheney needs to retire in the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed.
My hope for Mars exploration.
In the event people ever land on Mars, I’d like to see real-time video of a Martian creature, the size of the Rock of Gibraltar, emerge from below the surface where it has been patiently waiting. Then while all of us watch, it slowly and casually devours the alien invaders. and lets out a big burp. Finally, it displays the universal middle finger salute. Then it smiles.