Fergie's Tech Blog

Mars Lander Team Prepares for 'Seven Minutes of Terror'

Artist's rendering of The Mars Phoenix Lander.

After years of planning followed by a ten-month journey, the Mars Phoenix Lander is slated to touch down on the red planet's north pole on May 25.

If successful, the probe will be the first lander to reach a Martian pole and the first to actually touch the planet's water ice.

What's more, it could settle the debate over whether Mars was once a habitable world.

Now, as Phoenix closes in on the last 12 million miles (19 million kilometers) of its journey, NASA scientists are gearing up for the "seven minutes of terror" that could make or break the $420-million mission.

"Approximately 14 minutes before touchdown, the vehicle separates from its cruise stage," Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said today at a press conference.

"At this point we lose communication from the vehicle."

posted by Fergie @ 5/13/2008 04:54:00 PM