Phoenix Lands on Mars!

by William Atkins

Monday, 26 May 2008

Page 1 of 3 ! NASA has announced that the Phoenix Lander has successfully landed on the northern polar region of the planet Mars. Before its landing, mission controllers acknowledge that they are receiving telemetry data from the spacecraft. The mission controllers are using two spacecraft orbiting around Mars to track Phoenix. Acquisition of the Phoenix signal by the two spacecraft is verified. The mission control center for Phoenix announce at about 6:47 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) that the spacecraft had entered the atmosphere of Mars. Several minutes later, controllers report that the spacecraft had gone through peak heating of its body. The initial Mars descent and landing of Phoenix is being controlled by the mission control center at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. Afterwards, the mission of exploration of the planet will be controlled at the University of Arizona at Tucson. At 6:52 EDT, controllers at JPL report that Phoenix is operating nominally, with an altitude of 1,700 meters above the surface of Mars. At 6:54, touchdown is announced. Phoenix is on the surface of Mars! The controller yells out: "Phoenix has landed! Phoenix has landed!" Wild applause is heard from the control center. The events leading up to the landing is seen at NASA TV. At about 7:05 p.m. EDT, Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein states, "I don't think it could have happened any better." At 7:09 p.m., Goldstein is still waiting for the solar arrays to deplay. However, with a near-perfect landing of the spacecraft, he is confident that all will be fine with the Lander. He states that the spacecraft is tilted by only one-quarter of one degree to the horizontal--very level on the ground. Goldstein also gives congratulations to the entire Phoenix team for its dedication and hard work over the past five years. So what next? CONTINUED << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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