NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is set to arrive at the Red Planet tonight:
To recap: 13,000 mph to zero in seven minutes.
The craft will be traveling 13,000 mph when it hits Martian atmosphere, 78 miles above the surface. So NASA is calling their years of work as ''seven minutes of terror'' through the atmosphere to land safely.
In the international history of the space age, only five of 13 attempts to land on Mars have succeeded. Now Phoenix is attempting to be the first successful Mars mission to land with thrusters since the Langley-led Viking missions in the 1970s, however NASA reports that there's no guarantee of successful landing, despite extensive analysis, testing and review of the entry, descent and landing system.
After a journey of 10-months and more than 400 million miles, NASA will now begin its study of water and possible conditions for life in the Martian arctic. The soil will be analyzed for signs of Mars biological and geologic history.
I know this will be another risky business, and not something that is easy to do but, afterall it is done for science. If scientists can find life on Mars, it would be the biggest scientific discovery in man's history.
The reality is that for every mission to space I hold my breath! I hope for a soft landing on Mars, and do follow along on this blog during landing and mission updates if you, too, are asking the same question like me: ''Are we alone?''
(Newsflow: Thank you, Hanri!)
To recap: 13,000 mph to zero in seven minutes.
The craft will be traveling 13,000 mph when it hits Martian atmosphere, 78 miles above the surface. So NASA is calling their years of work as ''seven minutes of terror'' through the atmosphere to land safely.
In the international history of the space age, only five of 13 attempts to land on Mars have succeeded. Now Phoenix is attempting to be the first successful Mars mission to land with thrusters since the Langley-led Viking missions in the 1970s, however NASA reports that there's no guarantee of successful landing, despite extensive analysis, testing and review of the entry, descent and landing system.
After a journey of 10-months and more than 400 million miles, NASA will now begin its study of water and possible conditions for life in the Martian arctic. The soil will be analyzed for signs of Mars biological and geologic history.
I know this will be another risky business, and not something that is easy to do but, afterall it is done for science. If scientists can find life on Mars, it would be the biggest scientific discovery in man's history.
The reality is that for every mission to space I hold my breath! I hope for a soft landing on Mars, and do follow along on this blog during landing and mission updates if you, too, are asking the same question like me: ''Are we alone?''
(Newsflow: Thank you, Hanri!)
I don't believe we are alone. I certainly don't know where other life exists, but I believe it does.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a little girl, we lived about an hour from the space center. The school would let us stand outside, and we could see the spaceships. It was awesome. When our child was born, we took him to see one of the shuttle launches.
@ Bev: Yep, I have the same feeling like you about the 'others'. I believe that it's not desperately seeking life, but on the other hand, if there's life on Mars today, then I need to wait what NASA will tell us. Nothing exist until it is measured, so facts to obtain from science that the important thing! Lets see..
ReplyDeleteYou're perfectly right about the Space Center. I had been to Kennedy Space Center in Florida so... very informative and interesting things to see, with videos, training vehicles, even shuttle launching I did see with real eyes! Wouldn't that be awesome! Just agree w/you that I would prefer this w/kids to a very fancy children's museum or playplace:)