Phoenix - Mars landing preview webcast

[ahecht]

Originally Posted by David Brinza

Keep in mind that Phoenix is a lander, it can't drive around to explore different geologic features. It will, however, be able to dig progressively deeper into the Mars soil to search for water ice and other chemicals in the soil. If organic compounds are detected, this would be a major discovery regarding the habitability of Mars.

Well, that's true for the most part. There was some talk that, depending on the hardness and smoothness of the landing surface, the lander might be able to drag itself along the ground with the robot arm. However this would likely not be an intentional maneuver.

[JaneYoung]

woo - we're getting close.

Hopefully all will go well this weekend.

[DonRotolo]

Just a bump to remind everyone that just before 8 pm EDT is when the action happens. Since The Simpson's season is over, might as well watch what's happening on Mars.

[MrForbes]

Looks like my wife and I will take at least one of the kiddos up to join the party at the University of Arizona. should be fun! They've been running stories about it in the Tucson paper all week, and in the local paper too the last few days (we're about 75 miles from Tucson).

[artdutra04]

The Science Channel will be broadcasting the Phoenix landing live as a two-hour special tonight from 7pm-9pm EDT, on the Science Channel and on Science Channel HD.

[dlavery]

2-1/2 hours to go. Live blog from the landing team. Brent Shockley, from the Phoenix landing team, will be updating frequently during the day. The final landing event sequence is:

Event                                        Time (UTC)	Time (PST)
Cruise Stage Separation               23:39:17	16:39:17
Turn-to-Entry                              23:39:47	16:39:47
Entry                                         23:46:17	16:46:17
Nominal Plasma Black out start      23:47:05	16:47:05
Nominal Plasma Black out end       23:49:05	16:49:05
Nominal Heatshield Deployment     23:50:12	16:50:12
Nominal Lander Leg Deployment    23:50:22	16:50:22
Nominal Lander Separation           23:52:50	16:52:50
Nominal Touch Down                    23:53:33	16:53:33

-dave

[DCA Fan]

Under 30 minutes until landing!

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ Webcast

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by DCA Fan

Under 30 minutes until landing!

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ Webcast

I am watching also...if you arn't watching you should do it NOW!

[MissInformation]

I swear, I can see stress waves radiating through the air there...

This is really exciting! (and it beats mowing the lawn) Go NASA!

Heidi

[Barry Bonzack]

Parachute deployed!

Edit: and jettisoned!

Edit: TOUCHDOWN!

[Ian Curtis]

The Phoenix has landed.

Amazing!

EDIT: What's the timetable now? I know they have to wait 15 minutes before they deploy the solar array to make sure they don't get dusty, but when do they continue to recieve additional information?

[EricH]

Down safe. Now to analyze the soil!

[Marc P.]

Congratulations NASA/JPL/LM on a successful landing!

Here's to some good science!

[acdcfan259]

That was awesome when he was calling out the height. So much suspense.

[TheOtherGuy]

Congrats on the landing from the U of A!

There were so many people here that we had to open up our own laptop for extra viewing...