LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman. Winner 2013 Webby Awards for Best Political Website
May 21, 2013

 Choose a size
Text Size

Trending:     chris hedges     economy     elizabeth warren     politics     robert scheer
Most Read

Rise Up or Die

Revenge of the Bear: Russia Strikes Back in Syria

Real American Boy: How Our Byzantine Immigration System and Failed Economy May Have Made a Terrorist

Tumblr Is Worth $1.1 Billion to Yahoo For One Reason: You

It's News, Not Espionage

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports
 * NEW! * It’s News, Not Espionage

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture
Act of Congress
Daily Rituals
The Girls of Atomic City

Digs

Truthdig Bazaar
Havana Nocturne

Havana Nocturne

By T.J. English
$18.45

more items

 
Ear to the Ground

Greetings From Mars

Email this item Email    Print this item Print    Share this item... Share

Posted on May 25, 2008
Mars surface
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

For seven agonizing minutes, scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena had no idea if the $420 million and countless hours invested in the Phoenix Mars Lander would amount to more than a black spot on the Red Planet. Ultimately the mobile laboratory was able to dodge the 50 percent failure rate for Mars landings and beam back a few snapshots to prove it arrived safely in the northern polar region.

More photos from the Phoenix lander can be found on NASA’s Web site.


AP via Yahoo:

Cheers swept through mission control when the touchdown signal from the Phoenix Mars Lander was detected after a nailbiting descent. Engineers and scientists hugged and high-fived one another.

“In my dreams it couldn’t have gone as perfectly as it went,” project manager Barry Goldstein said. “It went right down the middle.”

The initial pictures were primarily to give engineers information on the condition of the lander including its power supply and the health of its science instruments. An image showed the lander unfurled its solar panels as planned after the dust settled.

Read more

More Below the Ad

Advertisement


New and Improved Comments

If you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy.

By Nelson, July 2, 2008 at 12:12 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

WASTE OF MONEY!!!!!
Imagine how many hungry americans they could have fed with that money!

Report this

By Aspirin, May 27, 2008 at 1:42 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Wow! only $420 million… for a close-up of.. what really?
This could be a magnified sponge on someone’s kitchen counter top, or outer derma-layer of someone’s skin. At least the framing is nice…

Report this

By Timothy1119, May 27, 2008 at 1:20 pm Link to this comment

Beyond the fact that mankind has NO future whatsoever sticking to one planet, anyone who understands that there is in fact an entire universe beyond the blue sky over our heads can easily understand how important it is to spend money on space exploration.  But then considering we spend only about $20B per year on space it is horrifying to think how few people understand or care what lies beyond this planet.  Even on the miserly budget the american people grant nasa each year within the next 20 years nasa may well send probes under the ice on Europa to determine if life exists there.  Another project is to construct a very large baseline radio telescope that will span a fair part of the solar system and use this to image planets around other stars.  Public housing, national health care and all the other crap liberals pineon about year in and year out is as nothing compared to confirming the existence of oxygen in the atmosphere of another world that orbits an alien star.  If a nation and it’s peoples have no resources to expend on learning basic truths about the universe in which they live then they are little better than the animals they evolved from and ultimately will count for about as much.

Report this

By StepenL, May 26, 2008 at 9:29 pm Link to this comment

Their basic instincts run toward socialization and big government spending.  Such as todays democratic congress with no balanced budget, no fix for medicare, no fix for medicade, no fix for social security. But they need higher taxes, new programs, more spending.

Global positioning, global communications, meteorology, the science and tools to study our planets environment, robotics, materials, laptops, etc etc etc.

Space has paid us back. And some day, we may find another home out there.  But will there be liberals in space?  Possibly trying to tax it?

Report this

By Samuel L Jackson, May 26, 2008 at 11:16 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

... I say we let him.

Report this

By desertdude, May 26, 2008 at 11:13 am Link to this comment

to go there and take pictures of Mars north pole. Just exactly what does that do for the American people?

Report this

By Don Stivers, May 26, 2008 at 9:42 am Link to this comment

This is a lot better than spending money for death and destruction.  $400-500 BILLION a year on defense?  Takes only two years to reach a trillion there.

I vote for robotic space flight.

Report this

By dick, May 26, 2008 at 7:57 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Total nasa spending has been around one trillion dollars, all paid for by taxpayers. It has provided jobs, an entertaining sideshow,  but not much else of benefit to society. What else could the one trillion have done for our citizens if proiorities had been considered?

Report this

By cyrena, May 26, 2008 at 4:38 am Link to this comment

This is really something. Now, what if they DO find stuff that is organic and life-sustaining?

Are we gonna be able to plant gardens up there, and share the food with the rest of the world without the neocons/neolibs corporatizing it?

Will the Bushes and the Clintons and all the other war criminals be able to move up there? Might be worth all the money then. We could build some gigantic prison up there, and then that could be like the next stop after the Hague. Leave the equipment up there and program it to keep an eye on ‘em.

Report this
Newsletter

sign up to get updates


 
 
 
 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.