Mars Phoenix Lander

Watch Mars Phoenix Lander Landing Coverage On NASA TV Live!

nasa.gov — Nasa Tv will be broadcasting live coverage of Mars Phoenix Lander on NASA TV from 3:00 PM to 9:30 p.m Eastern U.S. time including Mars Phoenix Lander (Briefing, Landing Coverage and most importantly First Downlink of Data). Not to miss event.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html

Watch NASA blow 200 Million dollars on NASA TV Live!

awesome

>>2

Phoenix has landed!

As I'm typing this, the Mars Phoenix Lander has just landed.

[quote]To answer these questions, Phoenix uses some of the most sophisticated and advanced technology ever sent to Mars. A robust robotic arm built by JPL digs through the soil to the water ice layer underneath, and delivers soil and ice samples to the mission's experiments. On the deck, miniature ovens and a mass spectrometer, built by the University of Arizona and University of Texas-Dallas, will provide chemical analysis of trace matter. A chemistry lab-in-a-box, assembled by JPL, will characterize the soil and ice chemistry. Imaging systems, designed by the University of Arizona, University of Neuchatel (Switzerland) (providing an atomic force microscope), Max Planck Institute (Germany) and Malin Space Science Systems, will provide an unprecedented view of Mars—spanning 12 powers of 10 in scale. The Canadian Space Agency will deliver a meteorological station, marking the first significant involvement of Canada in a mission to Mars.[/quote]

Would it not just be easier (and cheaper) to have the machine collect a lot of sample, then blast off back to earth and analyze it there, instead of designing custom labware?

>>6
no, because then the spacecraft would have to be over twice as big because it would need to bring more than twice the fuel.  you're proposing: extra fuel tanks + extra fuel + more fuel to cover the mass of the extra fuel tanks and fuel + mass of the samples + even more fuel to cover the mass of the samples

>>6
"A lot" of sample does not mean quality sample.

Solar panels successfully deployed. Looks like it's performing beautifully so far.

>>6
Stupid.

Does they have potatoes on Mars yet

>>10
No, but they've wasted billions of dollars determining that Mars is red.