Tech | May 26, 2008 | 15 comments

Phoenix delivers first photos of Martian Arctic

source: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/images/press/false_color_postcard_edr.html

Image
chilipeppers675
"Phoenix touched down on the Red Planet at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53 p.m. Eastern Time), May 25, 2008, in an arctic region called Vastitas Borealis, at 68 degrees north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude.

Here's a brief overview of the Phoenix mission:

The complement of the Phoenix spacecraft and its scientific instruments are ideally suited to uncover clues to the geologic history and biological potential of the Martian arctic. Phoenix will be the first mission to return data from either polar region providing an important contribution to the overall Mars science strategy "Follow the Water" and will be instrumental in achieving the four science goals of NASA's long-term Mars Exploration Program.

--Determine whether Life ever arose on Mars

--Characterize the Climate of Mars

--Characterize the Geology of Mars

--Prepare for Human Exploration

The Phoenix Mission has two bold objectives to support these goals, which are to (1) study the history of water in the Martian arctic and (2) search for evidence of a habitable zone and assess the biological potential of the ice-soil boundary."
--provided by NASA

And the pictures are AMAZING
  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Tech,   Green,   3 more
  2. tags:
    News,  News and Politics,  Green,  Tech,  9 more
  3.     
    |

15 comments // Phoenix delivers first photos of Martian Arctic

  • 75thDeadMan
    • 0
      75thDeadMan  

    • God how much money was wasted on this. I could have answered those four questions for free:

      1. If it did, its dead. Just like we're going to be in 100 years if you don't put some money towards our damn planet.
      2. Its dry and cold. Did we really need to send a robot 50 million fucking miles to figure that one out?
      3. See answer two.
      4. Wait, then what are we doing now?

      NASA=FAIL

    • 4 years ago
  • cibalin
  • Dmitri_Molotov
  • jefftego
    • 0
      jefftego  

    • For those who think that this scientific research (yes, we go there for more than just photos) is a waste of money, realize that NASA's budget is about 0.6% of the federal budget.

      NASA's 2008 total budget is $17.3 billion of the federal government's $2.9 trillion budget.

      Want our govenment to stop wasting money? Take it our of the $500 billion + that we have spent to date in Iraq. Funding science is something we should have more of, not less.

    • 4 years ago
  • Kati_kat
    • 0
      Kati_kat  

    • I'm all for space exploration from a scientific point of view, but I hope no one seriously wastes their time trying make other planets habitable for us... We screwed up this planet, we don't deserve another...

    • 4 years ago
  • Angry_Patriot89
  • kingtsohg
  • greenphantom
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  

    • Oh look, it's still just a dead rock desert. Like our previous pictures showed us.

      Why are we wasting all this money to go there again? =\

    • 4 years ago
  • pigmonkey
  • 1percent
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • I expect they will be drilling for oil soon. But yes WorldPeaceTV, it's quite beautiful when compared to what we've done to our planet. Earth only looks that way from a distance.

    • 4 years ago
  • richjm
    • 0
      richjm  
    • Image

    • There's some image of the scenes from Mars at this link, as well as a bald man with a goatee hugging his dad. Or something.

    • 4 years ago
  • emmahill
    • 0
      emmahill  

    • Watching NASA bods at mission control react so excitedly to the safe landing of the Phoenix is very contagious! Wish I'd been there to join in the "whoop whoops!" and the high fives.

      These missions are never straight-forward and they never cease to amaze me!

    • 4 years ago
  • WorldPeaceTV
more from Tech:
from the community

top videos