Monthly Archives: May 2008

Camera on Mars Orbiter Snaps Phoenix During Landing

Posted on May 26, 2008 by Mike

JPL/NASA/University of Arizona News Release: 2008-083 for May 26, 2008
A telescopic camera in orbit around Mars caught a view of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute during the lander’s successful arrival at Mars Sunday evening, May 25th.
The image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter marks the first time ever one spacecraft has photographed another one in the act of landing on Mars.
Meanwhile, scientists pored over initial images from Phoenix , the first ever taken from the surface of Mars’ polar regions.
“We can see cracks in the troughs that make us think [...]

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Phoenix has landed on Mars

Posted on May 25, 2008 by Mike

NASA has confirmed a signal from the Phoenix Lander that it has finally landed on the surface of Mars. (4:53 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday May 25, 2008)
Phoenix Mars Mission http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

NASA Phoenix Mars Lander www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main
“Mars is literally pulling on our spacecraft, and at the same time it is pulling on our emotions,” Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith, of the University of Arizona , Tucson , said early Sunday afternoon.
“We are excited at how close we are right now to beginning our study of a site where Martian water ice will be within our reach, [...]

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Phoenix Mars Mission

Posted on May 25, 2008 by Mike

It’s just a few hours until NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander makes it’s landing attempt on the planet Mars. It’s headed for the Martian arctic, which is farther north than any other spacecraft has landed on the red planet. In fact, only five landings have been successful, out of the eleven previous attempts.
Shortly after the annual 500-mile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Phoenix will be approaching Mars at about 12,750 miles per hour. After it enters the top of the Martian atmosphere at that velocity, it must use superheated friction with the atmosphere, a strong parachute and [...]

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WorldWide Telescope

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Mike

WorldWide Telescope is now available from Microsoft Research!
What is WorldWide Telescope? It’s software you can download from Microsoft Research that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope.
Explore the universe; view deep space images from such observatories as NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory; zoom into all-sky surveys, and browse through visible, infrared, and x-ray views of the cosmos.
Follow multimedia guided tours created by scientists, plus you can create your own to share with others.
The WorldWide Telescope is available at www.worldwidetelescope.org
A pretty cool tool.  It reminds me of Google’s Earth & Sky, which [...]

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Mars Odyssey Themis Images

Posted on May 12, 2008 by Mike

Sometimes you just have to catch up.  I’ve got a number of these NASA and JPL email newsletters to post, and they’ve all got some pretty interesting pictures.
Mars Odyssey Themis Images from May 5-9, 2008:

o Herschel Dunes (Released 05 May 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080505a
o Dunes (Released 06 May 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080506a
o Dunes (Released 07 May 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080507a
o Landslides (Released 08 May 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080508a
o Landslide (Released 09 May 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080509a
All of the THEMIS (Thermal Emission Imaging System) images are archived at:  http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html

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