NASA’s Phoenix has completed its 422 million mile journey, successfully executed its extremely tricky EDL (entry, descent, and landing) sequence, and is safely on the ground on Mars. It is now communicating with NASA at eight megabits per second and preparing to be the first earthly probe to dig below the Martian soil for life. Amazing shit.
Just a few hours until touchdown. Updates here.
Cool stuff at Discovery News.
NASA has some cool new shots from the MRO.
First, a piece at BBC about an active glacier that ESA’s Mars Express has identified on Mars. [Thanks, Jay.]
Second, apparently an asteroid is on a collision course with the red planet as well. Experts say there’s a better than 1% chance of an impact. Last time we saw anything similar was in ‘94 with Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter. But this would be a “scientific bonanza,” say experts.
More on the funky deep space blast I covered a few months back.
Cool piece of news resulting from NASA’s Themis missions.
