Something in the sky...
I really feel good, even though I'm not involved in this in any way. It's just that, an object, a small part of the whole humanity (or maybe just NASA), is about to land on a planet, millions of miles away. I wonder, what's the feeling, when you land on an another planet? I guess we should ask Neil Armstrong about that, as the robots that are sent to Mars can not exactly feel. But now, on to the more technical part.
The phoenix spacecraft was launched on August 4, 2007 and is scheduled to land... today! May 25, 2008. It will approach Mars at about 12,750 miles per hour, and will have to land perfectly on three legs with the help of parachutes and pulsing retrorockets, similar to the ones hover jets use. Oh, and all this will have to happen in under 7 minutes. 11 spacecrafts have been launched to Mars since the 1976 Viking, but only 5 have landed successfully. Hopefully, Phoenix will be the sixth. I don't know the history of each spacecraft, but 5 out of 11 concerns me a bit. What if the debris from failed projects will destroy some kind of primitive life form that may make Mars its home. On the other hand, the inactive probes or their parts may remind aliens, that there was intelligent life in this system, providing we nuke ourselves first. But, none of that is likely to happen.
The Phoenix is going to land in the far north of Mars. Scientists believe that the frozen northern lands are the only place where water could be found. That's what the 2.35 meter-long robotic hand (with a camera attached to it) is for -- it'll dig through Mars' surface and check the layers, which may tell us more about the history of Mars. And, of course, it'll check for any carbon-containing chemicals, that are said to be the essence of life.
Now here's something that's really interesting. Apparently, scientists created a so-called "Phoenix DVD". It contains a collection of discoveries and other literature about Mars. Also, 250.000 names have been collected and placed in the DVD, for the future visitors of Mars. It is made from a material called silica glass, and will last hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, until it's discovered by someone. Be that future Mars colonizers of aliens.
Even though this isn't such a huge step forward, as many spacecrafts have already reached and researched Mars' surface and atmosphere, I'd still like to throw in the quote "One small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind"
Well, thank your for your attention, hope you enjoyed it. Know, that as much as I try, I can not give you really good articles, so, I encourage you to read the Wikipedia article about Phoenix and the history of Mars landings.
Article On Wikipedia