Mars probe scheduled to "land" at 11:35 pm EST

[Paragon]

Well, it'll be covered in airbags, so it'll "bounce" a few times, skid for about a half mile, then come to a stop.

Plenty of NASA-types holding their breath...

[soothsayer]

1. heat shield deployed, parachute too, doing well!

25 seconds to airbag deployment and retro rockets

[Nlighten1]

2. Chute is out.

0434 GMT (11:34 p.m. EST)
Chute is out! Mission Control has detected indication of parachute deployment.

[absyntheNsugar]

3. I hope this one doesnt crash....

fingers crossed....

[Nlighten1]

4. It sounds like a success so far.

0434 GMT (11:34 p.m. EST)
"The heat shield has protected us but now we don't need it," Manning says "We have to undress ourselves. So the lander is now free to repell down a 20-meter bridle. Once we are in this configuration, this is a great configuration to be in for the lander to both see the lander with a camera and to use a radar to detect its altitude. When we get to the right altitude, the airbags are inflated. Now we are ready to fire the retrorockets to bring the system to a dead stop from about 180 mph to zero about 12 meters above the ground. At this point we bounce and bounce and bounce. Just like Pathfinder, we will bounce maybe as much as a kilometer or more from where we let go of the bridle."

[soothsayer]

5. it's a bouncing baby rover!

but ruh-roh----no signal yet

[Nlighten1]

6. Now there is no signal from Spirit.

The bounces will continue for a few minutes and then the craft will roll up to a kilometer from its initial touch down point before coming to rest.

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/status.html

[Blue-Jay]

7. Boing boing boing....

/crosses fingers

[ScreamingMeemie]

8. My husband made parts for this probe....so we're pretty excited

about it. :)

[phaseolus]

9. Can't get NASA TV now... what's happening??

it died a few seconds after the signal was lost, now it's claiming "network problems" or something. Any news?

[Paragon]

10. Waiting for signal...

http://spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/status.html

0437 GMT (11:37 p.m. EST)
The wait is underway at the control center to hear further information from Spirit to confirm it has survived all of the bounces and come to a safe position on Mars.

[Paragon]

11. Another update

0445 GMT (11:45 p.m. EST)
Now 10 minutes after the touchdown on Mars, officials are still waiting for some signal from Spirit. The lander should have rolled to a stop by now.

[phaseolus]

12. Thanks, I'll keep checking there...

I bet too many people are trying to connect to the streaming video.

[Blue-Jay]

14. It's live on CNN, if NASATV crapped out on you. n/t

[Paragon]

13. Any minute now...

0448 GMT (11:48 p.m. EST)
Spirit is scheduled to begin transmitting tones from the surface in one minute.

[Blue-Jay]

15. SUCCESS!

We have juicy signal. Now with less Mars-Probe-Eating goodness.

[soothsayer]

16. it's alive! alive!

yay!

[Nlighten1]

17. Sweet.

Can't wait to see the pics.

[ParanoidPat]

18. GREAT! Glad they found it!

Do ya think we could ask them to locate Osama for us? :evilgrin:

[Bill McBlueState]

20. yeah, go NASA!!

Finally some good news.

Hey, for any of you who are interested in astronomy in general: The American Astronomical Society has its winter meeting in Atlanta this week. Usually there are several interesting press releases each day at these meetings. Wherever you get your astronomy news, check it a little more often than you normally would this week. :)

[Nlighten1]

19. Base petal down?

What does it mean if it lands this way?

[Ready4Change]

22. Base Petal down

Base petal down is good. Means the other wall-like petals can unfold properly, I think.

[Paragon]

21. And there was much rejoicing

[camero]

23. Are they going to Utah again?

:)

[kalian]

24. Sly one, ain't you?

:evilgrin:

[camero]

25. Let me know if they bring any mormons back.

Er... I mean Martians. :P

[kalian]

26. Are they green too?

Could cause some confusion.... :D

[camero]

28. Just the good parts...

:silly:

[kalian]

27. First thing that they'll check for....OIL!

then the invasion can commence.