Phoenix heads for May 25 touchdown on Mars

Traveling to Mars is the stuff science fiction dreams were historically made of, but the Phoenix spacecraft is scheduled to touch down on the northern icy plains of the red planet on May 25. I’ve posted several columns about unidentified flying objects lately, so it seemed fitting to post one about something we definitely can identify.

NASA TV will cover landing events. Confirmation of the landing could come as early as 7:53 p.m. EDT (4:53 p.m. PDT). You can also check the NASA blog for information. Even to a math non-genius like me, the numbers are impressive. On Sunday, NASA says Phoenix will approach Mars at about 12,750 miles per hour, a speed that could cover 500 miles in 2 minutes and 22 seconds. After it enters the top of the Martian atmosphere at that velocity, it must use superheated friction with the atmosphere, a strong parachute and a set of pulsing retrorockets to achieve a safe, three-legged standstill touchdown on the surface in just seven minutes. The earliest possible time when mission controllers could get confirmation from Phoenix indicating it has survived landing will be at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday (7:53 p.m. Eastern Time). Of 11 previous attempts by various nations to land spacecraft on Mars, only 5 have succeeded.

Earth-side, technicians will robotically operate the science lab in the Martian arctic and dig through the layers of history to the ice-rich soil below. Phoenix is equipped to study the history of water now frozen into the site's permafrost, to check for carbon-containing chemicals that are essential ingredients for life, and to monitor polar-region weather on Mars from a surface perspective for the first time. One of the most fascinating images I've seen is the 'face' image captured by Viking I. NASA says the image is a rock formation. There are photos from 2001 for comparison to the 1976 image at NASA's website and you can even compare a 3D version of the later photos.

Man has watched the sky since the first savage walked the earth. It’s irresistible to me to wonder something, since we’re sending our spacecraft to another planet.

Who (or what) might be watching us?

[Filed by Kay B. Day; portions of text from NASA; photos from NASA. (Bottom) Mars-Man, the famous ‘face’ in the Cydonia Mensae region and (Top) Hubble's Sharpest View of Mars taken March 10, 1997.]