US spacecraft lands safely at Mars north pole

US spacecraft lands safely at Mars north pole

news.ninemsn.com.au

A small science probe blazed through the salmon-colored skies of Mars today, touching down on a frozen desert at the planet's north pole to search for water and assess conditions for sustaining life, NASA officials said.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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www.nasa.gov

Yet another source of hopefully good quality images to be scrutinised by ATS members! I found it interesting though that NASA said it would take 2 hours after Phoenix landed before they could start beaming back photos...makes me wonder...was that 2 hours so they could check out that there were no alien artefacts in plain view? hehehehehe...

news.ninemsn.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

In all seriousness they need time to run system checks, but most importantly they need to wait for all the dust to settle before they attempt to open the solar panels.

The batteries which the lander has been using will only last about a day or so. If they open the panels too soon to get full power all the dust will settle back down blocking out the panels.

I can't wait to see what kind of data we get back both pictures and from the digging.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this the first probe to be digging at deeper depths and in this type of area on mars?


Edit for spelling







[edit on 25-5-2008 by zarlaan]

Nasa already has pictures constantly being posted as they come in. The lander has been on ground for over 4hrs now.

I think the coolest video or picture to see, other then a Martian flipping us the bird, would be of the lander making its approach and touching down as seen from one of the rovers.








[edit on 25-5-2008 by zarlaan]

I took a look at some of the photos and in several of them appears to be some sort of standing structure. If you scan along the horizon you can see it in the right side of the photo. It appears to be casting a shadow as well.

Any comments on what this may be is appreciated.

www.nasa.gov...

You guys act like this is the first time we've landed on the red planet.

It would be worthwhile if they could bring the rover to some of the mars structures and find out what the hell they really are.

reply to post by princeofpeace


No, I'd say it's more like acting as if this is the first time we've successfully landed at one of the Martian poles. Sure would be a shame to not be somewhat excited to know that your nearly 10 yrs of tax dollars was successful.







[edit on 25-5-2008 by zarlaan]