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NASA 1 Europe 0
The Australian ^ | 1/5/04 | Steve Creedy

Posted on 01/04/2004 10:03:21 AM PST by Mark Felton

NASA's tough little Mars lander phoned home yesterday to tell its makers it had done what its European counterpart failed to do and survived a 120km fall to the red planet.

The Spirit spacecraft survived a hell ride through the thin martian atmosphere as it braked from 19,000km/h in six minutes while its heat shield reached temperatures similar to those on the surface of the sun.

NASA scientists had devised a series of communication tones to allow them to confirm the lander, surrounded by a cocoon of airbags, had "bounced down".

But there was a nail-biting 15-minute wait before the lander signalled it was setting up shop in the latest quest to find evidence of life on Mars.

Scientists and onlookers in California and Canberra erupted in jubilation as deep-space stations at both sites picked up the message simultaneously.

"It was the most tense 15 minutes of my life, short of getting married," said Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex spokesman Glen Nagle.

"There was an initial 'Yeah, it's down' from the first bounce and there was a little data saying, yes, we'd bounced down and we've got a signal.

"There was jubilation here and we could watch it in the mission control room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Then there was another 15-minute wait when there was no signal."

The Spirit, only the fourth spacecraft to land on Mars and signal home, bounced down at the Gusev Crater at about 3.35pm Canberra time.

It used the atmosphere to brake to 1600km/h, then deployed a supersonic parachute and rockets to slow further.

Airbags deployed about eight seconds before impact allowed the 544kg lander-rover combination to cut loose about 15m above the surface and bounce for up to a kilometre.

The package landed right side up and the six-wheel rover vehicle is due to drive out of its protective shell within the next week.

The geological survey will pay close attention to signs of water - and evidence of life - in what is thought to have been a lake bed billions of years ago. A second NASA rover, Opportunity, is nearing the planet and is due to to land on January 25.

The rover's next moves include deploying solar panels and camera masts, setting up its wheel system and switching on antennas that will give it the high data rates necessary to transmit images and other information.

"It will deploy out to the surface on about the fourth day on Mars, rolling out of the lander," Mr Nagle said.

The NASA probe is one of five missions launched to take advantage of the unusually close proximity of Mars, currently 170 million kilometres away.

The British Beagle 2 spacecraft is believed to have landed on Christmas Day but failed to establish contact. Japan's Nozomi probe sailed past the planet after failing to brake.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: americanknowhow; astronomy; beagle2; jpl; mars; marsmission; nasa; space; spaceprogram
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To: Mark Felton
Bingo! No wonder the rest of the world is gnashing their teeth.
41 posted on 01/04/2004 12:00:50 PM PST by hershey
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To: Mark Felton
Somehow today has turned out to be a GIDDISH(if there is such a word) day! :) God bless America!!
42 posted on 01/04/2004 12:20:39 PM PST by RoseofTexas (r)
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To: longtermmemmory
or how about

US OCCUPIES MARS WITHOUT SECURITY COUNCIL APPROVAL

43 posted on 01/04/2004 12:51:21 PM PST by trek
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To: WestSylvanian
I "watched" NASA TV over the 'net last night, so there was no "filtering" from the lamestream media.

Strongly consider giving up on TV. When no one is watching, it will go away and in any event, if you don't watch it, it will not bother you anymore.

Works for me :>)

44 posted on 01/04/2004 1:04:25 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Central Scrutiniser
I love you..:->

LOL. I like Palo. I can appreciate, respect, like and love sincere liberals. And I believe she is a sincere liberal.

But she is also a pacifist, and as I have pointed out time and again one cannot simultaneously be dedicated to liberty and be a pacifist.

Pacifists are slaves.

45 posted on 01/04/2004 1:22:04 PM PST by Mark Felton (One riot, one Ranger.)
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To: Mark Felton
Hard to know what she is, she changes her beliefs depending on who she hangs with. What bothers me is that if you dare to disagree with her more stupid postings, everyone comes out to attack you. Because she "loves" everyone. But I'll take her over the really insane and dangerous folk over there.
46 posted on 01/04/2004 1:28:45 PM PST by Central Scrutiniser (Never, ever, ever trust a Tax Protester that wants your money...)
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To: WestSylvanian
I watched the coverage on NASA TV. The lamestream media injects their nonsense even on events such as astronauts returning to earth from the space station aboard Russian crew transport modules and space shuttle launches and landings. NASA TV gives you the raw audio and footage without all that extra fluff from pinheads like Miles O'Brien. NASA commentators will give viewers play-by-play, but they cut themselves off if there's audio coming from astronauts or JPL engineers.
47 posted on 01/04/2004 3:20:04 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper
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To: BigSkyFreeper
...and if astronauts start talking "techie" with controllers in Houston, the commentator will explain in laymens terms that anyone can understand, what they were talking about after the exchange is complete.
48 posted on 01/04/2004 3:22:19 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper
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To: Central Scrutiniser
This is how I entertain myself over there Mars 1st Panoramic Image (conspiracy nuts invited)
49 posted on 01/04/2004 3:22:36 PM PST by Mark Felton (One riot, one Ranger.)
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To: trek
New York Times Headline:

PROBE SHOWS THIN SUPPORT FOR BUSH ON RED PLANET!

That one comes right before the whiny piece the Slimes writes about how Bush is destroying the Martian ecosystem with all of this exploration equipment. Doubtless thanks to Haliburton, the Slimes will breathlessly intone.

50 posted on 01/04/2004 3:28:04 PM PST by CFC__VRWC (AIDS, abortion, euthanasia - don't liberals just kill ya?)
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To: Mark Felton
Love it! BTW, whoever Hon is, he/she is doing a great job on the whackjobs!
51 posted on 01/04/2004 3:29:27 PM PST by Central Scrutiniser (Never, ever, ever trust a Tax Protester that wants your money...)
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To: Mark Felton
From a purely scientific standpoint, I don't care what the score is. I just want to know what the hell is going on up there. But, it is amusing to see how we showed the Euroweenies (AGAIN) how the grownups get the job done right - the first time. :-)
52 posted on 01/04/2004 3:34:01 PM PST by Viking2002
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To: CFC__VRWC
good point! I completely forgot about that rapacious environmental criminal Halliburton (run in absentia by Dick Cheney of course). In fact, now that you mention it, the entire mission to Mars must really be about oil!
53 posted on 01/04/2004 3:50:04 PM PST by trek
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To: WestSylvanian
In case you missed it,I'm going to ping you to the ongoing(sort of) live thread.
54 posted on 01/04/2004 4:20:40 PM PST by MEG33 (We Got Him!)
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To: HoustonCurmudgeon
....failures including one unforgivable one where our guys mixed metric and English measurements.

Which was so stupid it was beyond embarrassing...

I wouldn't have wanted to be on the engineering team that oversaw that screw up.

55 posted on 01/04/2004 6:40:03 PM PST by Jorge
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To: CFC__VRWC
how about 400 MILLION DOLLARS SPENT OF ROBOT PR STUNT INSTEAD OF CHILDREN STARVING AT HOME
56 posted on 01/04/2004 11:45:05 PM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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