The Official Space Exploration Thread

[DSJ™]

Star dies an explosive death



NASA’s Swift satellite took these images of SN 2007uy in galaxy NGC 2770 before SN 2008D exploded. An X-ray image is on the left, the right is in visible light. Credit: NASA/Swift Science Team/Stefan Immler.



On January 9 2008, Swift caught a bright X-ray burst from an exploding star. A few days later, SN 2008D appeared in visible light. Credit: NASA/Swift Science Team/Stefan Immler

[DSJ™]

NASA preps for '7 minutes of terror' on Mars

Phoenix Spacecraft on Course for May 25 Mars Landing





Phoenix Mars Mission - Home

Phoenix EDL Animation - This animation featuring a heads-up display shows second-by second the entry, descent and landing of the Phoenix Mars Lander on May 25, 2008.

Godspeed little dude.   

[Darth_Anton]

There is this awesome new site called worldwidetelescope.org.

Too bad Mac users, they didn't write the software for us. 

[DSJ™]

The Mars Phoenix Lander is about to enter the atmosphere of Mars. It should hopefully land in about 7 mins.

[DSJ™]

Touchdown! Nasa has data, hopefully the litte dude survived the landing. 

All looks good! 

[DSJ™]

Images are now showing up from the Phoenix Lander.

Phoenix Raw Images





These are raw, or unprocessed, images taken by the Phoenix lander on Mars, May 25, 2008. This is a screen grab taken from NASA TV.

[Darth_Anton]

Nice to see photos so soon. I know they like to hold onto them a study them for a month or so before release.

[DSJ™]

Yeah, I'm very surprised too. Guess they were all excited that everything went well & it survived the re-entry & landing.



This image shows a polygonal pattern in the ground near NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, similar in appearance to icy ground in the arctic regions of Earth. This is an approximate-color image taken shortly after landing on May 25, 2008. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA.



This image, one of the first captured by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, shows the vast plains of the northern polar region of Mars just after landing on May 25, 2008. The flat landscape is strewn with tiny pebbles and shows polygonal cracking, a pattern seen widely in Martian high latitudes and also observed in permafrost terrains on Earth. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.



NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander can be seen parachuting down to Mars, in this image captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on May 25, 2008. This is the first time that a spacecraft has imaged the final descent of another spacecraft onto a planetary body. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.



Success!
NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars Sunday, May 25, 2008, to begin three months of examining a site chosen for its likelihood of having frozen water within reach of the lander's robotic arm. This black-and-white self-portrait shows Phoenix's leg nestled in the Martian soil.

Radio signals received at 7:53 p.m. EDT confirmed the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. The signals took that long to travel from Mars to Earth at the speed of light. Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, University of Arizona.

[Matt_Fury]

Those images are great, but I think my favorite one so far is the one of the lander parachuting in taken from the MRO.  Not that it's anything spectacular, just the feat of actually getting the shot!

[DSJ™]

Here's another pic of the lander coming down.



This image has been brightened to show the patterned surface of Mars in the background. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.

[DSJ™]

Holy ******* wow! 



The butterfly-like object in this picture is NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, as seen from above by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.



This image shows where the spacecraft parachute and heat shield fell. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.



Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera acquired this image of Phoenix hanging from its parachute as it descended to the Martian surface. Although it appears that Phoenix is descending into the crater, it is actually about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) in front of the crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.

Clicky links below for higher res pics of the last 2 photo's.

High Res Phoenix/Parachute/Heat Shield/Backshel

High Res Phoenix/Crater

[DSJ™]

NASA's Phoenix Lander Robotic Arm Camera Sees Possible Ice



This contrast-enhanced image was acquired at the Phoenix landing site on Sol 4 by Phoenix's Robotic Arm Camera (RAC). As seen in the top center, the exhaust from the descent engine has blown soil off to reveal either rock or ice, which has not yet been determined. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University Arizona.

Phoenix Mars Lander has short-circuit problem

Shuttle Discovery ready to carry Japanese lab into space



The space shuttle Discovery sits on launch pad 39A as workers prepare for launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida May 30, 2008. Discovery is scheduled for launch on May 31 with a crew of seven astronauts on a mission to the International Space Station. The orbiter is covered by the protective Rotating Service Structure.

[DSJ™]

Discovery blasts off for space station



Space shuttle Discovery thunders off the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 31, 2008 to begine the STS-124 mission. Credit: NASA TV.



In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, an overhead crane moves the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module - Pressurized Module toward the payload canister (lower right). Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.



Fictional spaceman Buzz Lightyear will make a real-life trip into space aboard space shuttle Discovery during STS-124. The toy astronaut will mark an educational partnership between NASA and Disney. Credit: NASA/Steven Siceloff.

[DSJ™]

Space shuttle Discovery leaps from the billows of smoke below into a clear blue sky on its STS-124 mission to the International Space Station. Launch was on time at 5:02 p.m. EDT. Discovery is making its 35th flight.

The STS-124 mission is the 26th in the assembly of the space station. It is the second of three flights launching components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. The shuttle crew will install Kibo's large Japanese Pressurized Module and its remote manipulator system, or RMS. The 14-day flight includes three spacewalks. Image Credit: NASA/Fletch Hildreth.



This image, released on May 31, 2008, shows the ground underneath NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, adding to evidence that descent thrusters dispersed overlying soil and exposed a harder substrate that may be ice. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA.



This panoramic view taken by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows the sweeping plains of the Martian polar north. Phoenix's robotic arm scoop is visible. It was released May 29, 2008. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.

[DSJ™]

Discovery crew checks shuttle wings for damage



A camera inside the payload bay of the shuttle Discovery caught this view of Japan's Kibo laboratory with its folded robotic arm after their May 31, 2008 launch on the STS-124 mission. Credit: NASA TV.



This image captured by the Robotic Arm Camera aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander on Sol 6, the sixth Martian day of the mission, (May 31, 2008) shows a close-up of the "Snow Queen" feature under the lander.

Swept clear of surface dust by the thruster rockets as Phoenix landed, the area has a smooth surface with layers visible and several smooth, rounded cavities.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute.