'7 Minutes Of Terror' - Mars Phoenix Lander Landing On Sunday

[Save Us Sutter]

bumpity bump

2 and a half hours to go!

Live coverage on Discovery Channel starts at 5pm mountain time.

Not sure about any other channels.

[photon]

Originally Posted by chris lindberg

Seriously, I wonder how long until we put a person on Mars?

First we have to figure out how to do it.. as far as I know they currently have no clue as to how to put a person on the surface of Mars.

The problem is payload size; small probes are ok because they're small, but no one knows how to get a large payload (the size needed for people to stay there for any amount of time) down to the surface. The atmosphere is too thin to provide enough aerobraking to slow down enough to land softly, but too thick (in combination with the higher gravity) to allow for a type of landing like they did on the moon, at least easily.

http://www.universetoday.com/2007/07...he-red-planet/

[photon]

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

NASA TV is live.

[Mike F]

The great thing is that we're guaranteed to be talking for days or weeks about what happens in the next hour+, successful touchdown or total failure.

[Save Us Sutter]

Originally Posted by photon

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

NASA TV is live.

Woohoo!

Thanks photon.

[Locke]

This week in reality TV, Survivor: Mars

In this riveting installment we get to see whether or not the Mars lander will be voted out of existence.

To make it fun for our viewers, the possible actions required to land this preposterously expensive piece of equipment will be on your screen and you can text your vote for emergency action in for a mere $1000/vote.

For example,

A) Deploy parachute
B) Self-Destruct
C) Activate inflight Martini Shaker
D) Dodge that enormous mountain

Seeing as there is no human life on the line here, will it be funny if this ends in unmitigated disaster?

I mean, if the thing explodes for no apparent reason in mid-descent and the head-honcho at NASA HQ drops an F-Bomb or starts randomly brow-beating his subordinates, is that just good TV?

The way I see it, these NASA boys havent marketed this enough, who is in charge of their promotions department, the NHL?

If they really sold the hell out of this they could have a win-win situation. If it lands without a hitch, cool, they've got a robot on Mars. Awesome. If not, millions of viewers watch a multi-billion dollar piece of high tech equipment go up in smoke.

Everyone's a winner.

But now, if this thing doesnt hit the ground perfectly, they're likely going to get their asses chewed off for the rest of eternity and face the very real probability of having their whole program shut down.

On a lighter note. At 5:00 we watch the Mars lander go out into the universe to explore. At 6:00 on SpikeTV we see whats actually out in that universe that wants to kill us.

I for one, welcome our new lightsaber wielding, Ewok killing and mind-controlling overlords.

[Locke]

I'm not a gambling man, but are there Vegas odds on this?

[Daradon]

Locke, speaking of shutting down NASA, have you ever read one of Dan Brown's earlier books called Deception Point? Deals with the same kinda scenario, and asks a couple of the obvious questions associated with it. Pretty good book.

[Daradon]

Here we go, look at all those nervous nerds...

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Daradon

Here we go, look at all those nervous nerds...

When this goes down all the world will hear will be the united sound of millions of inhalers going off at once.

I havent read deception point, maybe I'll pick it up some time.

How can this live Mars landing even compete? They're broadcasting it at the same time as such Cinematic masterpieces as "Deep Blue Sea" and "Missing in Action III." Although, as soon as this thing hits the dirt I'm switching to "Return of the Jedi."

[Daradon]

Heh, yup, I'm bored already. Not really MADE for TV.

Heh in the book I mentioned they actually DO try a made for TV event to save Nasa and unveil a huge new discovery. Good book if you wanna read about some of the politics of space. Very Dan Brownish, but interesting to read him write about some different ideas instead of the church.

[Daradon]

Did they remember to convert ft to meters and back again this time? Time will tell... LOL

I dunno, 13,000+ MPH down to 5 MPH for a landing? I see fail written all over this. I am not optimistic.

[CrusaderPi]

Touchdown should happen in 13ish minutes. Dudes in the blue shirts look like they're about to puke.

[Save Us Sutter]

Haha.... I had Deep Blue Sea on in the background a couple hours ago. What a film. The scene where the chick gets eaten at the end is absolutely hilarious...

My heart is actually beating pretty hard right now.... I was interested beforehand but now that it's happening I'm way more excited then I thought I would be.

[Daradon]

Peak heating rate? Plasma blackout? Go nerds!

[Daradon]

Sounds like everything is working well, the lander is slowing down fast.

[TheyCallMeBruce]

They did it. Amazing.

[Save Us Sutter]

Touchdown!!

That final countdown was intense!

[GreenLantern]

Touchdown!

[CrusaderPi]

Does it bother anyone else that they all look like Best Buy employees?