Phoenix Spacecraft Due On Mars

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I was waiting for Mr. Donger to post this, but I guess he's too busy spying on his neighbors. Anyhow, this is a pretty big deal - spacewise. With any luck, we'll finally learn whether or not the Face is attached to a buried Body and what the strange glass tubes are. At the very least, we should find out if there's enough ice on Mars to start the reactor and make air. I only hope NASA doesn't blow another 400 million all to heck and gone.

Phoenix spacecraft to land, or crash, on Mars

And now it's crunch time for Phoenix as the Mars-bound spacecraft flies straight and true toward its target on the Red Planet's icy northern plains after a spectacular voyage of 421 million miles from Earth.

By Sunday evening, a few seconds after 4:53 p.m. PDT, scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will know from a single radio signal from one of three orbiting spacecraft high above the planet whether Phoenix has landed precisely on its target site after enduring seven minutes of split-second descent events.

The spacecraft's heat shield, flaring at 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit as it hits the planet's atmosphere at 12,600 mph, must jettison; the descent parachute must deploy safely just 217 seconds before landing to slow the craft from 1,100 mph to a safe 120 mph, and its 12 retro-rockets must then fire successfully to steer the craft's final pitch, yaw and roll for 18 seconds as the ship settles slowly to the surface at barely more than 5 mph.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MNC210TBV8.DTL

EDIT: Just another reason to keep the champagne corked for a while longer: "NASA has not had a successful powered landing in more than 30 years since the twin Viking landers in 1976. The last time NASA tried was in 1999 when the Mars Polar Lander prematurely cut off its engines and crashed into the south pole. The Polar Lander loss came during a communications blackout. Source: The Associated Press"

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Disclaimers: Sorry if re-post.