Re: Phoenix landing

The latest data seems to be on SPN. Try this.

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/phoenix/status.html

Evidently the arrays are deployed and there are some pictures off the main
page. The landscape shot looks pretty barren except there is a "bump"
on the horizon. Probably a martian wandering over to see what all the
fuss was about.

---------
Phil Chambers [ptchamb-at-svpal.org] (S.F. Bay Area - Calif. USA)

On Sun, 25 May 2008, P T Chambers wrote:

> Hi Rich
> Im not sure of your exact question but the lander will be covered in snow
> during the Martian winter and will die. So it only gets a few months to do
> its thing.
>
> They pretty much hit the area they were looking for. The orbiters
> identified the area as being ice rich near the surface while having the
> smoothest terrain. The smooth terrain was important as the thing has no
> movement capability once down.
>
> The first data said it had a tilt of 1/4 degree and it was oriented properly
> to give the arrays the best sun exposure. (seems to me it would have been a
> great place to use an RTG).
>
> There is a briefing at 9pm PDT on the first data pass. The orbiters went
> out of view for the radio relay within a couple of minutes of touchdown. They
> have to go around again in order to get the data from Phoenix.
>
> The solar arrays were supposed to wait for 20 minutes for the landing dust to
> settle before opening so they wont know about that until the data pass.
> (actually the data pass should have been 1/2 hour ago).
>
> ---------
> Phil Chambers [ptchamb-at-svpal.org] (S.F. Bay Area - Calif. USA)
>
> On Sun, 25 May 2008, Rich N wrote:
>
>> Amazing stuff! How far did Phoenix land from the pole? From the photos it
>> looks as if it
>> isn't sitting on part of the ice cap. I've not been following the mission.
>> Are the near the pole that will grow a larger
>> ice cap while Phoenix is collecting data?
>>
>> Rich
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