Posted on 04/05/2006 2:22:11 PM PDT by KevinDavis
DENVER, Colorado – The next Mars lander is undergoing assembly and testing, being readied for departure next year to explore the martian arctic. This probe is equipped to dig deep, quite literally, into an ongoing mystery—the history of water on Mars and the planet’s potential as an extraterrestrial address for life.
NASA’s Phoenix Mars mission is the first in the space agency’s Scout series, a class of spacecraft designed to be inventive but relatively low-cost in furthering Mars exploration.
Phoenix is headed for liftoff in August 2007, cruise across the vacuum void for 10 months and set itself down on the red planet in late May 2008. This time there’s no bouncing to full-stop on air bags. It will come to a soft touchdown using controlled thrusters.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Awesome news, thanks for the post. I just finished re-reading "Mars Crossing" by Landis--a great read.
It will be necessary to drill to considerable depth, both on the moon and on Mars. 20 feet, 200 feet, 2000 feet. Eventually it will be desireable to dig tunnels and build underground habitats.
>:)
Just doing the job that Martians won't do.
It's going to dig a trench.
Who cares as long as there's toilet paper?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.