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'Nail-biting' 7 minute descent to Mars - BBC NEWS
news.bbc.co.uk — Scientists are preparing for "seven minutes of terror" as a Nasa spacecraft makes a nail-biting descent to the surface of Mars.
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- Tomboys, on 05/16/2008, -0/+27what an amazing video. How are people born with so much genius to not only imagine it... but plan it out?
- cygnus2112, on 05/16/2008, -2/+5This only gives hope for my robot army taking out the Eastern Hemisphere.
- luckyguy2000, on 05/16/2008, -4/+3i think its not too complicated as soon as you know how to do it.
the only complicated thing is to find out how to do it and understand it, thats why so many missions failed in the last 50+ years.
i believe almost every human could do anything as long as he/she really wants it and invests in it. even my father could program this nasty little remote control, if he wanted too. but he doesnt.- alecks, on 05/16/2008, -1/+6I'm so sick of this argument..."I could do that if I wanted to...." . Way to trivialize an amazing and incredible achievement, *****!
- palehorse864, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2Planning it out is imagination applied.
- noahtron, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2one is not born with this kind of genius.
- floejoe, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Keep in mind these are the same people who forgot to convert English measures into the metric system and the rover crashed into Mars.
- zaldoe, on 05/16/2008, -1/+143 month mission? NASA please stop underestimating yourself
- 3leggedHorse, on 05/16/2008, -15/+8All Your Mars Are Belong To Us.
- crazyjake, on 05/16/2008, -6/+2oh, i see what you did there...
btw, did you notice the volume on the video player goes up to 11?
- crazyjake, on 05/16/2008, -6/+2oh, i see what you did there...
- chuckles08, on 05/16/2008, -4/+1coool
- edwardmluk, on 05/16/2008, -2/+3I've got one of those made from Lego. Mine's got a bar code reader too...
- punkcat, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1that will be handy to determine Mar's pricing structure, if we can afford to live there etc.
- cbeach, on 05/16/2008, -0/+9When is this actually happening? Couldn't see a date or a time in the article
- zadadka, on 05/16/2008, -0/+7http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/
Countdown timer at bottom-right ...... - moniker, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2According to http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/faq.php:
Phoenix will land at approximately 4:36pm Pacific Daylight Time (7:36pm Eastern Daylight Time). We hope to receive the first signal from the lander approximately 17 minutes later at 4:53pm PDT (7:53pm EDT).
- zadadka, on 05/16/2008, -0/+7http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/
- drakelord, on 05/16/2008, -0/+28Can you imagine how people on Earth would react if some unknown probe landed here and started scanning and digging stuff up?
- cygnus2112, on 05/16/2008, -2/+3So, you've met my proctologist ...
- poidh, on 05/16/2008, -5/+2Yes. They'd probably say "oh look, the NASA Mars lander has got the wrong planet."
- cdigioia, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4Where I grew up, I think there's a good chance they'd shoot it.
- alecks, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Ha, that was my exact thought as I watched the robot unfold itself.
- cygnus2112, on 05/16/2008, -6/+8NASA needs to come up with less expensive ways to bite their nails.
- sniksnok, on 05/16/2008, -0/+12The animation looks great!
Let's hope everything goes as planned with the Phoenix lander. This thing might make some amazing discoveries on Mars.
@cbeach: The Phoenix is going to land on 25 May, around 7:45 PM EST, at the north polar region of Mars. See: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/ - spazoidspam, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4oh cool, I hadn't been keeping an eye on this mission for a while. It's always nice when these sneak up on you. I remember reading about this mission back when spirit and opportunity landed.
I'll keep my fingers crossed! - Indrius, on 05/16/2008, -10/+1I say this: we ***** up this planet enough already. As species we are pests. Why go and ruin other planets? We think of ourselves as if we're some kind of important and useful to the Universe. But actually we're stupid pests and our lives are completely meaningless, and nobody gives a ***** if you survive or not. Leave them planets alone.
This exploration is just a BIG waste of money. I mean, don't we have enough of our own earthly problems here? First, clean our backyards, then go and explore the ***** space.- _skin_, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2I agree that humans are a "virus" but I am definitely interested in ways we can redeem ourselves.
- simg, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3>>But actually we're stupid pests and our lives are completely meaningless, and nobody gives a ***** if you survive or not.
speak for yourself ;p - palehorse864, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1I think he's worried we'll make someone on mars "Very very angry!"
- RealmDown, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2Captain! There's a TROLL dead ahead. Attacking without provocation, as usual.
Phasers, fire all banks! Torpedoes, full spread!
*kisses random girl* - allengeer, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1what a blatantly ignorant thing to say. people who think like you are just so grossly unaware of the beneficial impact that space exploration has on your everyday life. MRI, GPS, Satellite TV, Vision Screening Test, Fire resistant materials for firefighters, plastics, smoke detectors, cordless tools, and the joystick all came from the space program. The space programs of various countries are dedicated to the systematic understanding and manipulation of the world we exist in. And that isn't on you list of "getting our own backyard in order".
Since you clearly have the reasoning skills of a child, here is a K-5th grade poster on what NASA has done for you.
http://ksc.nasatechnology.com/resources/spinoffs/s ...
- letgojoe, on 05/16/2008, -1/+4cool video but I have one that concerns me..... wouldn't you'd think by now we'd have a better way to land on the surface? I'd be damned if I would trust anything like that as a solution for living beings. Think about it.... A parachute that drops a heavy object hundreds of yards over the drop zone that depends on stabilizing rockets to land softly.... but hey, I guess it's better than being surrounded by inflatable bladders of air that bounce all over the place.... that's progress, I suppose. Honestly, I hope it works.
- punkcat, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4the ball thing was a money saver, maybe they have more for this mission. i noted that too.
- cbeach, on 05/16/2008, -1/+3I agree that humans have mucked around with Earth over hundreds of years. Our next generations don't deserve to suffer the problems we have created. Let's learn from our mistakes on Earth and colonise other planets with sustainability in mind.
- r3s0p, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3Even if we kill nearly every living thing on this planet, it's still going to be easier to start over here than colonize another. Pinning hopes on colonizing another planet makes for a great story, and i'm all for NASA, but i think it's better to fix what we already have.
- matt.rubin, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1in order to colonize mars I remember reading it would take about 300 years to get the atmosphere strong enough to host life again
- Indrius, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2Yes, colonize Mars, cover its surface with concrete, malls and gas stations so the fat asses could drive their SUVs all day long and shop for no reason. Do you really believe human beings are worth to be spread to other planets? Honestly?
- matt.rubin, on 05/16/2008, -1/+2but its not about expanding where we live. Its to look at the universe and understand how we got here. If you haven't noticed earth has been completely explorered. We need to branch out to other planets. We could use mars for that reason too. I mean do you see the ISS covered in malls and mcdonalds? I think people are looking at this at a much smaller scale than it needs to be looked at. People are always going to suffer because people are always going to argue. There is nothing that can be done about that. This is above our problems here on earth. This is much larger than we are.
- matt.rubin, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1in order to colonize mars I remember reading it would take about 300 years to get the atmosphere strong enough to host life again
- Indrius, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1I agree. As long as there is at least one human being suffering from famine, drought or cancer, there is no justification for billions spent on wars and space exploration crap.
- allengeer, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1talking about jumping the gun. I think colonizing Mars is a little extreme of a jump right now. Before we talk about colonizing Mars, let us first build a vehicle that can transport and sustain a human being to Mars and back. It doesn't even have to land on Mars.
- r3s0p, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3Even if we kill nearly every living thing on this planet, it's still going to be easier to start over here than colonize another. Pinning hopes on colonizing another planet makes for a great story, and i'm all for NASA, but i think it's better to fix what we already have.
- palehorse864, on 05/16/2008, -2/+1After it landed and began deploying, did anyone expect Marvin the Martian to come out at the end?
- cheesylobster, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3A sweet video on the Phoenix Mission for all us NASA nerds:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/on_demand_vi ...
I can't wait to see what this thing might find, as there has been little success in studying areas near water on mars. - possiblyneil, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Am I the only one who thinks they saw subliminal messages in that film towards the end?
- Haecceity, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2What could go wrong?
- punkcat, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4what was the green laser thing it fired at the end?
- shadowsurfr1, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3I'm pretty sure it's a green laser.
- past89, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1That was the Phoenix sending info to a satellite in Mars' orbit, which then sends it back to Earth.
- SeaICIubber, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2Death Ray, first strike on the Martians!
- nightwatch, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1The green laser is being fired from a lidar, a laser radar system for measuring the vertical distribution of dust and ice clouds. It is a part of a Canadian funded meteorological package.
- Skizzlizzit, on 05/16/2008, -4/+1I wonder how many millions that mission will cost?
- piper999, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4Let's see - less than a days worth of keeping troops in Iraq maybe? Or a smallish bonus for a corporate executive somewhere? I know where I'd rather see the money go.
- Skizzlizzit, on 05/16/2008, -1/+0I wasn't making a statement jackass. I was just thinking out loud. Sorry if I offended your NASA loving ass!
- narehart, on 05/16/2008, -1/+0Seriously, read some Carl Sagan. The odds are against us. The only chance our species has for long term survival is to explore and colonize other planets. This probe is a step in that direction and its cost should not be an issue.
- Skizzlizzit, on 05/16/2008, -1/+0I agree with you. I was just curious and kinda thinking out loud.
- allengeer, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1frankly I don't think enough is spent on most of these missions. NASA is extremely budget limited. I mean the real goal here, if, you know, we could see past this inter species fighting is that we will live here until another mass extinction occurs. The only chance the human race has to survive is to colonize multiple planets.
- piper999, on 05/16/2008, -0/+4Let's see - less than a days worth of keeping troops in Iraq maybe? Or a smallish bonus for a corporate executive somewhere? I know where I'd rather see the money go.
- DestroyFascism, on 05/16/2008, -1/+1Yeah but the chute and cap is going to smash the thing to pieces about 10 seconds after it lands. that's just life......
- HillBully, on 05/16/2008, -1/+0Let's just hope the Decepticons don't ruin that thing.. like they did with the Beagle 2 lander. Such a waste...
- SeaICIubber, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2What are the odds that the NASA scientists running this mission grew up playing Lunar Lander?
http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/lunar_lander_g ...- matt.rubin, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1and there goes productivity
- antiver, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2I like how the camera looks down towards the ground... there's probably a debug console somewhere outputting "oh ***** oh ***** oh *****..."
- kerguelen72, on 05/16/2008, -0/+2Unfortunately, Texas electronic eating ants managed to get on board right before launch, and are waiting...for the right time....
- RSS14, on 05/16/2008, -0/+3NASA is such a good investment, it is ***** that they put cutbacks on it . . .
- mcottier, on 05/17/2008, -0/+1They will be broadcasting live from the control room on May 25th when it lands, on the Science Channel, around 6.pm. central I believe.
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