Phoenix Descending (Mars lander photographed descending by Mars Orbiter!)

Bad Astronomy ^ | 5/27/08 | Phil Plait

[stravinskyrules]

Check out the Video

[stravinskyrules]

Simply incredible photo. The human mind never ceases to amaze.

[wastedyears]

Cool

[DManA]

Neat, except too much yapping, not enough pictures.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

/mark

[Hacklehead]

“Simply incredible photo. The human mind never ceases to amaze.”

Not just any human mind. American mind’s.

[SJSAMPLE]

“Our German rocket scientists are better than their German rocket scientists.”

We had a little help ;)

[RightWhale]

What picture? How come we can get images of starlets three times wider than the monitor but not even a couple pixels of this event?

[Dr.Zoidberg]

So the guy was excited, I can’t say as I blame him.

It’s freaking awesome what mankind is capable of when given the opportunity.

[Domandred]

Understated but remember these were taken by a robotic orbiter below Phoenix's decent

[El Gran Salseron]

“How come we can get images of starlets three times wider than the monitor but not even a couple pixels of this event?”

Because “the-images-of-starlets-three-times-wider-than-the-monitor” were taken with the very powerful Hubble telescope which is in orbit around the Earth. This image was taken by a simple camera mounted on an orbiter around Mars.

Or perhaps you have the resolution on your display set improperly or even beyond that, perhaps you don’t realize the significance of this photo and the technology required to even take it.

It is difficult and sometimes impossible to please some people.

[ml/nj]

How exactly does a parachute work in the thin Martian atmosphere?

ML/NJ

[Hacklehead]

“We had a little help ;)”

In the 40’s and 50’s perhaps. I haven’t seen alot of German martian and moon landers lately and they have a few more German scientists than we do.

[DManA]

Genesis 11:6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

[SJSAMPLE]

The Germans never got an A-bomb, either.

But, I detected a few Canadian accents on the Science Channel interviews with the scientific team.

These things have always had a strong international component, because the best gravitate to the American space/exploration programs.

[SJSAMPLE]

And don’t forget the 60’s and 70’s.

We wouldn’t have reached the moon without them.

[Vaduz]

Yep merl it’s ice now what do we do it only cost us 420 mill$$$$$$ to do it we be smart ok.

[baclava]

Still no word on the alien spacecraft in the distance in the first photos? Ssssssshhhhhhhhhh.....they're listening...

[DManA]

Are you all right? That was kinda incoherent.

[Izzy Dunne]

How exactly does a parachute work in the thin Martian atmosphere?

The same way it does here, except the density is way lower than on Earth (5%, I think).

Take a look at chapter 3 of this NOVA program.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Sak!