Go Go Phoenix

On May 25th NASA's Phoenix will land on the surface of the Artic Plain of Mars. The lander (350kg) will search for habitable regions
and seek to touch and investigate Martian water,frozen or otherwise FANTASTIC !!! 15 minutes for the radio signal to come back after the landing, a nervous 15 minutes I should think.

The Phoenix lander is about 18 feet (5.5 meters) long with the solar panels deployed. The science deck by itself is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) in diameter. From the ground to the top of the MET mast, the lander measures about 7 feet (2.2 meters) tall.

What an amazing engineering triumph, this will be for all concerned.
You can keep up to date on the latest news on NASA TV link below
Leo Enright is in attendance, and asked several questions at the press conference last night.


You can get the latest and watch the briefings here on NASA TV
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/

Nice article here on M44 and Mars, pity about all the cloud
forecast in Wicklow for the next week, perhaps some of you will catch a look or a photo.

solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=2109

Deirdre Kelleghan
Irish Astronomical Society

I ain't going nowhere but it's due to land on EPK's and my birthday. Nice prezzie if it does not go splat. When I blow out the large amount of candles I will wish for a safe entry.

Happy birthday lads.

The landing coverage starts around 11:30


www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Wow.
NASA have done a great job with the coverage.
It's very exciting stuff!

The Phoenix has landed!
How cool!!

FANTASTIC, SUPERB, OUTSTANDING

Deirdre Kelleghan