Monday, May 26, 2008

The sophisticated landing system on Phoenix allows the spacecraft to touch down within 10 km (6.2 miles) of the targeted landing area. Thrusters are started when the lander is 570 m (1900 feet) above the surface. The navigation system is capable of detecting and avoiding hazards on the surface of Mars. This rendition of the Phoenix lander was created by artist Corby Waste of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As the Mars program artist, Mr. Waste has created artwork for several Mars missions.Artist's depiction of
Phoenix landing
Image via Wikimedia Commons
The Phoenix spacecraft landed on Mars. We watched.

My son said "this is my generation's moon landing..." That may have been hyperbolic on his part but it WAS exciting... and a bit freaky to realise that the "now" was actually "10 minutes ago" due to transmission delay.

That another spacecraft managed to get a picture of Phoenix's parachute during the descent is ragingly cool.

So why did we need a Canadian network to bring it to us? ... seems it was too uncool/geeky for US networks.

Well I'm just glad someone was carrying it.

Did you watch? What did you think?Phoenix (spacecraft)Artist's depiction of
Phoenix on Mars
Image via Wikimedia Common

2 comments:

MessedRocker said...

This generation's moon landing? Bollocks.

Lar said...

He's 16... I don't think I agree with him either. :) But it was cool anyway.