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May 25, 2008 NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars today to begin three months of examining a site chosen for its likelihood of having frozen water within reach of the lander's robotic arm.

 

Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53:44 p.m. Eastern Time) confirmed the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. The signals took that long to travel from Mars to Earth at the speed of light.

 

Mission team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver; and the University of Arizona, Tucson, cheered confirmation of the landing and eagerly awaited further information from Phoenix later tonight.

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Originally Posted By: thursday.
wow it took less than a year to get to Mars. Manned mission sounds doable. Any volunteers?


I'd be up for that. It would be pretty cool to stand on another planet.
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Yeah, but by the time the tourists arrive the place will become commercial and there will be problems with drunk Aussies and theft (no theft or other crimes now I bet) and anywhere decent will be tracked out. Better to get up there early and grab some first tracks wink

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The "Mars" science fiction trilogy written by Kim Stanely Robinson was a great meditation on the the first human habitation of Mars, its terraforming, and possible social/political/economic alternatives to Earths. Brilliant read, especially if you like 'hard' science fiction (emphasis on the science).

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takes a LONG time. They start by trying to thicken the atmosphete incrementally until it can sustain lichen and mosses. They pump a lot of greenhouse gasses, trying to warm things up until the polar caps can start melting more (releasing mostly co2)

 

they also redirect some icy meteors into the atmoshere, letting them burn up and thicken it more.

 

He gets REALLY into it. As well as the aerophany. Interesting stuff.

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Originally Posted By: Rag-Doll
Yeah, but by the time the tourists arrive the place will become commercial and there will be problems with drunk Aussies and theft (no theft or other crimes now I bet) and anywhere decent will be tracked out. Better to get up there early and grab some first tracks wink

rollabout
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