NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander...has landed [Upd w/ Pics]

[Caleb the Cruel]

The Phoenix has landed and what a wonderful waste of money it is!

Millions and millions of American tax dollars are at waste sending this stupid camera to a planet far, far away! What good does a stupid piece of machinery on another planet do you? NOTHING! NASA needs to be eliminated to save some money for things that really matter such as healthcare, education, & transportation. No wonder everything is going down the drain, we're sending our money to another planet!

How bout you f*ck off and finally realize that stuff like this matters. It will give us a perspective on whether or not life is able to exist elsewhere in the universe. Also, we could further our expansion into space by colonizing Mars within like, 80 years (best guesstimate). Especially if we lose our own planet, where are we to go if we cannot stay on Earth? MARS

You don't mind me quoting that, do you? Weren't we supposed to have flying cars by 2000? Shouldn't we have a cure for cancer by now? Humans shall NEVER inhabit Mars on a large-scale. Do you see anything there that could support us? Rocks & red dirt. Whoopie! What will we breathe? What will we drink? What will we eat? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing! It's a waste of public money. PERIOD. Not to mention our planet will be inhabitable until the apocalypse, so no need to worry.

Look at all those churches. What a waste of money that could be spent on something important.

And all those priests who could be doing something useful instead of mumbling about god and getting paid for it.

These are both very important in saving ETERNAL lives, rather than life on earth. Or maybe Mars in this situation. Not to mention these are examples of PRIVATE spending, the issue with NASA is it rellies on wasting millions of PUBLIC dollars that could surely be used elsewhere. Particularly here on Earth!

You know, if I recall, there seems to be a rather expensive and unnecessary war going on...

Yes, it is expensive and therefore why are we shooting ourselves in the foot twice by additionally sending millions of dollars to some other planet to take pictures of rocks? At least Iraq is on the same planet!

[jonesthecurl]

[Yes, it is expensive and therefore why are we shooting ourselves in the foot twice by additionally sending millions of dollars to some other planet to take pictures of rocks? At least Iraq is on the same planet!

...unlike Caleb

[AndyDufresne]

Caleb, another friendly warning to keep from trolling. I've only got a few more friendly ones I can give out!

Back on topic. Next news briefing on May 27th at 2 PM EDT.


--Andy

[2dimes]

Are you sure that's mars? Looks kind of like saskatchewan to me. Caleb meet us in the thread I"m going to start.

[Snorri1234]

Caleb, another friendly warning to keep from trolling.

How is that trolling?

[Snorri1234]

[Yes, it is expensive and therefore why are we shooting ourselves in the foot twice by additionally sending millions of dollars to some other planet to take pictures of rocks? At least Iraq is on the same planet!

...unlike Caleb

Man, that made me almost spill my beer.

[2dimes]

Caleb, another friendly warning to keep from trolling.

How is that trolling?

Because this thread is for posting pictures or rocks that may or may not be on another planet. My thread on the other hand is for fighting about wether or not it's a waste of money theorising they actually did indeed send this thing into outerspace.

[AndyDufresne]

2dimes is indeed correct. For discussion about the costs/benefits/detriments see his thread. This thread's topic is related to the news side of the issue.


--Andy

[Snorri1234]

2dimes is indeed correct. For discussion about the costs/benefits/detriments see his thread. This thread's topic is related to the news side of the issue.


--Andy

Okay fair game.

[jonesthecurl]

Caleb, another friendly warning to keep from trolling. I've only got a few more friendly ones I can give out!

Back on topic. Next news briefing on May 27th at 2 PM EDT.


--Andy

hey, I'm not on this bloke's side, but just because you and I think a Mars Mission is important and that caleb is brain-dead to not get that, doesn't mean that his opinion that Pheonix is a waste of money is trolling. This is his genuine opinion, and he is enitled to express it, on a thread where it is totally relevant. The fact that the perceives an entirely diferent reality to you, me, or anyone with two brain cells to spark together, does NOT mean that he shouldn't post his opinion. And I speak as a guy who has added Nappy to his "ignore" list because in my opinion nobody should have to look at the crap that some posters come up with.

TO CALEB: and if you come back with a merely insulting or spammy resonse, I will applaud your banning. However, if you come back with the knee-jerk brain-dead fundamentalist crap that you usually post, I will support your right to do so.

Um, that means I'm sort of on your side. A bit. Not much.

[jonesthecurl]

[Yes, it is expensive and therefore why are we shooting ourselves in the foot twice by additionally sending millions of dollars to some other planet to take pictures of rocks? At least Iraq is on the same planet!

...unlike Caleb

Man, that made me almost spill my beer.

Shit, I'd better stop posting. SPILL BEER? I have never ever made anyone do that. I mean, this thread is just about intrplanetary exploration. Not important stuff, like beer. Please put yout beer down in a safe place before reading any further posts of mine.

[AndyDufresne]

New image as seen from above by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The blue looking feature in the upper-center part of the picture is the Phoenix Lander...two the circular parts flanking the center mass are the deployed solar panels.

The two impact depressions located in the center of the image is where the heat shield, after being jettisoned, impacted and bounced.

And the parachute and attachment is located at the bottom of the image.

Click image to enlarge.

--Andy

[heavycola]

Either that rocks, or the Bilderbergers had a bluebottle land on their model.

[Pedronicus]

Very interesting that NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can take a picture of the Phoenix Lander... It is 15 feet wide with the solar panels out.

Stuff allegedly left on the moon after America landed on the moon (cough, cough)....
6 x Lunar landing modules
Dimensions
Height: 20.9 ft 6.37 m
Diameter: 14 ft 4.27 m
Landing gear span: 29.75 ft 9.07 m
Volume: 235 ft³ 6.65 m³

3 x Lunar Roving Vehicles (Moon Buggy) : The frame was 10 feet (3 m) long with a wheelbase of 7.5 feet (2.3 m).

No photos to date of these items, plus the flags, footprints and other stuff left behind.....

[AndyDufresne]

This image shows the American flag and a mini-DVD on the Phoenix's deck, which is about 3 ft. above the Martian surface. The mini-DVD from the Planetary Society contains a message to future Martian explorers, science fiction stories and art inspired by the Red Planet, and the names of more than a quarter million earthlings.

--Andy

[Neoteny]

New image as seen from above by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The blue looking feature in the upper-center part of the picture is the Phoenix Lander...two the circular parts flanking the center mass are the deployed solar panels.

The two impact depressions toward the bottom of the image is where the heat shield, after being jettisoned, impacted and bounced.[bigimg][/bigimg]


--Andy

That is badass as well. I don't think the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is close enough to the moon to get any good pictures...

[ParadiceCity9]

Caleb, another friendly warning to keep from trolling. I've only got a few more friendly ones I can give out!

Back on topic. Next news briefing on May 27th at 2 PM EDT.


--Andy

but just because you and I think a Mars Mission is important and that caleb is brain-dead to not get that,

Hey I'm a supporter too...

[ParadiceCity9]

Very interesting that NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can take a picture of the Phoenix Lander... It is 15 feet wide with the solar panels out.

Stuff allegedly left on the moon after America landed on the moon (cough, cough)....
6 x Lunar landing modules
Dimensions
Height: 20.9 ft 6.37 m
Diameter: 14 ft 4.27 m
Landing gear span: 29.75 ft 9.07 m
Volume: 235 ft³ 6.65 m³

3 x Lunar Roving Vehicles (Moon Buggy) : The frame was 10 feet (3 m) long with a wheelbase of 7.5 feet (2.3 m).

No photos to date of these items, plus the flags, footprints and other stuff left behind.....

Wrong thread...

[AndyDufresne]

Voila! Latest from today's NASA Press Briefing:

The team sent commands for moving the arm on Tuesday morning, May 27, to NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for relay to Phoenix. However, the orbiter did not relay those commands to the lander, so arm movement and other activities are now planned for Wednesday. The orbiter's communication-relay system is in a standby mode. NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter is available for relaying communications between Earth and Phoenix.

During the "down time" the Phoenix Lander proceeded to collect needed images of the workspace and terrain.

This image was obtained on sol 2 by the Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) on board the Phoenix lander. The view is toward the northwest, showing polygonal terrain near the lander and out to the horizon.

Click image to enlarge.

And these remarkable color photos are brought to you with the assistance of "color targets" used to calibrate and check the accuracy of color photos.

These images of three Phoenix color targets were taken on sols 1 and 2 by the Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) on board the Phoenix lander. All of them will be imaged many times over the mission to monitor the color calibration of the camera. The two at the top show grains 2 to 3 millimeters in size that were likely lifted to the Phoenix deck during landing. Each of the large color chips on each target contains a strong magnet to protect the interior material from Mars' magnetic dust.

Click image to enlarge.

During the next three months, the arm will dig into soil near the lander and deliver samples of soil and ice to laboratory instruments on the lander deck. Following today's commands, its movements will begin with unlatching the wrist, then moving the arm upwards in a stair-step manner.

More images, color and black and white, will be coming in over the next few days and weeks. The actual "digging" will commence sometime next week.


--Andy

[hulmey]

The Phoenix has landed and what a wonderful waste of money it is!

Millions and millions of American tax dollars are at waste sending this stupid camera to a planet far, far away! What good does a stupid piece of machinery on another planet do you? NOTHING! NASA needs to be eliminated to save some money for things that really matter such as healthcare, education, & transportation. No wonder everything is going down the drain, we're sending our money to another planet!

How bout you f*ck off and finally realize that stuff like this matters. It will give us a perspective on whether or not life is able to exist elsewhere in the universe. Also, we could further our expansion into space by colonizing Mars within like, 80 years (best guesstimate). Especially if we lose our own planet, where are we to go if we cannot stay on Earth? MARS

You don't mind me quoting that, do you? Weren't we supposed to have flying cars by 2000? Shouldn't we have a cure for cancer by now? Humans shall NEVER inhabit Mars on a large-scale. Do you see anything there that could support us? Rocks & red dirt. Whoopie! What will we breathe? What will we drink? What will we eat? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing! It's a waste of public money. PERIOD. Not to mention our planet will be inhabitable until the apocalypse, so no need to worry.

Look at all those churches. What a waste of money that could be spent on something important.

And all those priests who could be doing something useful instead of mumbling about god and getting paid for it.

These are both very important in saving ETERNAL lives, rather than life on earth. Or maybe Mars in this situation. Not to mention these are examples of PRIVATE spending, the issue with NASA is it rellies on wasting millions of PUBLIC dollars that could surely be used elsewhere. Particularly here on Earth!

You know, if I recall, there seems to be a rather expensive and unnecessary war going on...

Yes, it is expensive and therefore why are we shooting ourselves in the foot twice by additionally sending millions of dollars to some other planet to take pictures of rocks? At least Iraq is on the same planet!

You are quite wrong in what you say!! Your attiude would have kept us in the dark and living like cave men. Most modern technology has come from NASA. You name it NASA has made it!

[AndyDufresne]

The Latest from NASA's Briefing:

It's a series of seven moves, beginning with rotating the wrist to release the forearm from its launch restraint. Another series of moves releases the elbow from its launch restraints and moves the elbow from underneath the biobarrier.

-------------------------------------

We appear to have landed where we have access to digging down a polygon trough the long way, digging across the trough, and digging into the center of a polygon. We've dedicated this polygon as the first national park system on Mars -- a "keep out" zone until we figure out how best to use this natural Martian resource.

[I.E. The team does not want to contaminate their Science testing area without debris and soil from outside the specified zone.]

And this is the workspace that the Arm will be operating in eventually, with a few rocks and their dimensions noted. (You can also see the shadow the camera in the right half of the image.)

Click image to enlarge.

Lastly, the Martian Weather Report from the Canadian led team:

Click image to enlarge.

====================================


--Andy

[tzor]

You don't mind me quoting that, do you? Weren't we supposed to have flying cars by 2000? Shouldn't we have a cure for cancer by now? Humans shall NEVER inhabit Mars on a large-scale. Do you see anything there that could support us? Rocks & red dirt. Whoopie! What will we breathe? What will we drink? What will we eat? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing! It's a waste of public money. PERIOD. Not to mention our planet will be inhabitable until the apocalypse, so no need to worry.

We had flying cars, actually they were available in the 50's but they were clumsy. There are flying cars today that drive almost like a regular car. They are, however expensive. The biggest problem with the flying car is no one really thought about what would happen once we invent them. The wonderful thing about cars is that they need roarways and these roadways organize car traffic in logical patterns. How are you going to make "highways" in the air. It's a logistical nightmare in 3D. Even in 2D it's a logistical nightmare as is why you don't have everyone going in car/boats to commute over vast bodies of water.

Cancer cures was always a pie in the sky thing. Some cancers have been "cured."

But skip that. By the time you get to the real problems of closed environments you reach the findamental question, "Why are we sitting in a gavity well again?" The fact is that we will probably settle the moon first but then only because we need a source of materials to build colonies at the Lagrange 5 point. This is probably a century or so away not becuase of the technology but it takes that long for us to get off our fat bottoms and do it.

Note that Star Trek "communicators" are now commonplace but our computers are a billion times better than anyone imagined. That's the problem with predicting the future, way to conservative in some areas and always overestimating human motivation in other areas.

[Snorri1234]

What are you talking about? Europe has had flying cars for years now. We also converted completely to a new type of wind-energy so we don't depend on coal for our factories.

Next thing I know you guys are going to tell me you haven't found a cure for death yet.

[tzor]

What are you talking about? Europe has had flying cars for years now. We also converted completely to a new type of wind-energy so we don't depend on coal for our factories.

Next thing I know you guys are going to tell me you haven't found a cure for death yet.

Some parts of Europe had wind energy since the middle ages. The United States can't say the same thing since we weren't a nation in the middle ages. But we have been using wind energy for hundreds of years. There is a 300 year old model in the town of my birth and a modern one on a farm about 10 minutes where I live. Unfortunately attempts to make a large number of them in the Atlantic Ocean got squashed when a flock of NIMBYs attacked the local governments. They were also seen around Cape Cod where they defeated a similiar measure.

As for a cure for death ... are you kidding? What would I do if I didn't have to go to Knights of Columbus honor guard wakes? Or what would happen to Social Security for that matter, the system's bad enough as it is. NIMBY my good sir, NIMBY.

P.S. Here is the flying car ... Moler Skycar

[AndyDufresne]

Latest images from NASA:

The Robotic Arm Camera on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander captured this image underneath the lander on the fifth Martian sol of the mission. Descent thrusters on the bottom of the lander are visible at the top of the image.

This view shows smooth surfaces cleared from overlying soil by the rocket exhaust during landing. The abundance of excavated smooth and level surfaces adds evidence to a hypothesis that the underlying material is an ice table covered by a thin blanket of soil.

This image of the Canadian-built Phoenix lidar in operation (with the cover open) was acquired at the Phoenix landing site on Sol 3. The lidar transmits light vertically into the atmosphere, which is reflected off dust and ice particles. These reflected light pulses and their time of return to the lidar instrument are analyzed, revealing information about the size of atmospheric particles and their location.

From this distribution of dust and ice particles, scientists can make important inferences about how energy flows within the polar atmosphere, important information for understanding martian weather. These particles also reveal the formation, duration, and movement of clouds, fog, and dust plumes, improving scientific understanding of Mars' atmospheric processes.

--Andy