|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
Phoenix has landed!
On May 25, 8:39 pm, "jonathan" wrote:
"kT" wrote in message ... On May 25, 7:05 pm, Damon Hill wrote: Damon Hill wrote : There's background talk that the Phoenix has landed with a 40 degree tilt...? Make that a quarter-degree tilt, just about dead flat. I'm guessing a flat featureless plain in all directions, and ground so rock hard they won't even be able to dig in it. A flat horizon might mean it's sitting on what was the bottom of an ocean. Like at Meridiani. Except the water ice is still there at this site. And like an arctic site, each scape deeper gives the history of the atmosphere. The ideal place for life on Mars should be just under the surface where it's protected from the radiation and cold, but also where water ice is near the surface. But more abstractly, life needs to be in a transitional environment. Where change is neither zero or constant. But a combination of the two. The first meter at the site should be 60% to 80% water ice. Who knows, solar radiation may be able to warm a layer just underground enough for the ice to melt at times. Think of it as a potential Meridiani site except that the underground water ice hasn't long ago dissipated, but is still there. I think they chose very well from an astrobiological perspective. The rovers were oriented around geology, this is about habitability now and the recent past. Screw Mars, let's go to Ceres! The big answer is on Mars. Are we alone? The soil looks weird here as well. I saw a couple of rocks, they look like fossils, of course. All rocks on Mars look like fossils at first glance. |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
Phoenix has landed!
"Damon Hill" wrote in message
... Pictures are now flowing in and on display; solar panels are deployed and the camera mast is up, showing a view of the local terrain. Mars-ian? --Damon And we now know how the Orion solar panels will deploy - I've been wondering about that since seeing the first artists concepts of the Constellation CSM. Seems awfully complex - all those joints. |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
Phoenix has landed!
OM wrote: ...A *quarter* of a degree of tilt. Now *THAT* is flat! So much for the Disney Mars, that a friend and I watched in respect to Ernst Stuhlinger tonight in respect to his memory and the wonderful "parasol" Mars ships in "Mars And Beyond". Someone took the time and effort to record all the three Disney space programs on VHS and send them to me free of charge on two VHS tapes years ago, and whoever that was, I'd like to thank you again for doing that. They are a treasured part of my movie collection, and seeing the Disney artists bizarre take again tonight on what life on Mars might be like was a real blast from the past...and one of the strangest, most surreal, things ever filmed. I mentioned years ago that if I ever got out of my Mars lander and saw bizarre and ****ed-up animals like that living on Mars, I would crap in my spacesuit and get back aboard the ascent stage while barricading the airlock door and demanding that NASA gave me permission to lift off inside of ten minutes. Christ, Fellini or Giger couldn't come up with warped, dangerous, Mars-death-monsters like that! Get me the **** _OUT OF HERE_, ASAP! :-D Pat |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Phoenix has landed!
Damon Hill wrote: Pictures are now flowing in and on display; solar panels are deployed and the camera mast is up, showing a view of the local terrain. Mars-ian? Now, this is one _flat_ horizon: http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/20..._498519772.jpg Congratulations Mars, you have actually beat North Dakota for an absolutely flat horizon. ;-) Looks like there's gravel lying all over the place. This should be interesting to figure out why gravel-sized rocks are covering the ground. Around here, it's due to large rocks being ground down to that size by glaciers. If the rocks around the lander are smoothed, then either ice or liquid rolled moved them around and ground them smooth; like they were in a giant rock polisher over hundreds or thousands of years. Most likely ice glaciers of some sort, but that could be either water ice or dry ice. Pat |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Woo-Hoo!! Landed! | snidely | Space Shuttle | 2 | August 21st 07 08:33 PM |
"The Eagle has landed" NOT! | Jay Windley | UK Astronomy | 0 | August 16th 03 02:08 AM |
"The Eagle has landed" NOT! | Jay Windley | Misc | 0 | August 16th 03 02:08 AM |
"The Eagle has landed" NOT! | Mark McIntyre | UK Astronomy | 0 | August 16th 03 12:44 AM |