Big (Martian) Science Ahead

by Damon Gambuto     Department: Space

The Phoenix has landed!  Congratulations to the team at JPL on the first powered landing in over 30 years. This plus the scientific surveying that lies ahead make yesterday's landing a remarkable achievement.

As we learned in the "Space Junkyard" segment, repeating the feats of space programs past is not as easy as one may think.  It's worth noting that simply having a functioning lander on the other end of the 422 million mile journey is a pretty impressive accomplishment.  We've only managed 5 successful Mars shots out of 11 previous attempts.  When the Lander's radio signal was received at 4:53:44 pm PST, we were officially batting .500.

Billions of dollars on a 1 in 2 chance of success?  Well, the risk is worth the large scientific reward.  The Lander will analyze the icy soil to help determine whether the chemical ingredients of life are present.

If you missed the actual "seven minutes of terror" you can catch up on it here.  While I must admit, it wasn't quite the Hollywood action movie experience promised, I was still thrilled watching the exuberant JPL team as they received word that they had gotten their sums right.  That and I kind of loved the irony of how it transpired for me.  I watched it happen from my seat 37,000 miles above the earth on my flight home from New York!

Up next is all of the actual data gathering and analysis.  I'm genuinely delighted at what will be learned.  There's a news briefing 11am PST updating us on the mission.  Please pardon me, I have to go spend my Memorial Day geeking out on space news.

Tags: JPL, Mars, NASA, Phoenix Lander, space, space flight