NASA preps for '7 minutes of terror' on Mars
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(CNN) -- In the wake of the wildly successful Spirit and Opportunity rover missions, you would think NASA would approach the landing of the next Martian probe with high confidence.
But the truth is sometimes not what you would think.
"I do not feel confident. But in my heart I'm an optimist, and I think this is going to be a very successful mission," said principal investigator Peter Smith, an optical scientist with the University of Arizona. "The thrill of victory is so much more exciting than the agony of defeat."
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Everyone on the team is primed and ready to get down to business, putting the suite of scientific instruments aboard Phoenix to work analyzing the soils and permafrost of Mars' arctic tundra for signatures of life, either past or present.
But first, they have to get the lander on the ground, and that's where the worry comes in. In fact, they have a name for it in the Mars exploration community -- "seven minutes of terror."
Seven minutes is all it takes for a spacecraft travelling neary 13 thousand miles per hour to hit the Martian atmosphere, slam on the brakes, and reach the ground.
During that time, onboard computers will be working at a manic pace as the spacecraft deploys its parachute, jettisons its heat shield, extends its three legs, releases the parachute, and finally fires its thrusters to bring it down for a soft landing. Hopefully.
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Also:
- 55% of all Mars missions have ended in failure.
- The Mars Phoenix Lander will be searching for signs of organic material (life or signs of past life) in the northern polar region of Mars. It will dig down into the ice and dirt and use its science instruments to analyze the soil and ice.
- The Mars Phoenix Lander is too heavy to land using airbags, the way that the rovers did. Phoenix must land using stabilizing thrusters and landing legs, a method that has only ever been done successfuly twice on Mars and not a single time in the last 30 years.
- The Mars Phoenix Lander will be landing at approximately 5:53 PM mountain time on Sunday, May 25th.
Mars Phoenix Lander Mission Page
Mars Phoenix Lander Landing Blog
I really hope this landing goes well. It is a feel-good story and it would be a shame if it ended badly. The Mars Phoenix Lander is comprised of instruments from a couple other projects that were cancelled... so the name fits nicely. I'll be watching Sunday, should be interesting.