PHOENIX

Phoenix Mars lander beams back first images

Nasa's Phoenix Mars lander has beamed back the first images of its new home hours after its dramatic arrival on the Red Planet's northern plains.

The first spacecraft designed to dig for signs of life in the frozen waters of Mars' arctic confirmed its flawless touchdown with a series of images showing the planet's surface, the horizon and one of the probe's three footpads resting firmly on Martian soil.The razor sharp pictures, taken with Phoenix's onboard cameras, also showed the probe had successfully completed many of its vital post-touchdown operations, including unfurling the solar arrays that will power its 90-day search for evidence of life-supporting compounds on Mars.Mission controllers, still dizzy at the probe's picture perfect arrival, expressed delight at the images and the details they supplied about Phoenix's decent and landing position."It's my pleasure and joy to be able to show you some pictures of the landscape around our lander," said Peter Smith, mission chief scientist of the University of Arizona, at a press conference earlier on Monday."I know it looks a little like a parking lot but that's a safe place to land," he added."That makes it exactly the place we want to be. We could not be more pleased. This is a scientist's dream."To successfully reach the Martian arctic the lander had to pull off a hair-raising series of manoeuvres to transform from spacecraft to robotic research station and slow from nearly 13,000 mph to just 5mph in a period dubbed the “seven minutes of terror".After jettisoning the solar panels that powered its 423 million mile-journey through space, the probe activated a heat shield, burning through the planet's atmosphere at 2600 degrees C before deploying a parachute and using 12 reverse thrust rockets to gently reach the ground.Mission controllers 170 million miles away yelped with joy as uninterrupted data streaming back to Earth via Nasa's Mars Odyssey orbiter confirmed the craft's successful completion of each risky step in its hazardous decent.But it was not until additional data and pictures flowed back several hours later that flight managers could confirm their five-year venture to send a robot geologist to the polar plains of Mars was a success."Everything just worked like a charm," said Barry Goldstein, mission controller at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "It's just wonderful."Data showed the lander had touched down with “zero vertical velocity,” he added, while pictures of the probe's feet showed virtually no disturbance to its dusty soil.Mr Goldstein meanwhile described the images of the probe's post-landing operations as “just exceptional”. Although the craft had landed at the far edge of its target, initial results showed it touched down almost level, with no rocks to tilt it underfoot.In a few Martian days, known as sols, the stationary craft will use its 8ft robotic arm to start digging into the icy reservoirs below the unexplored terrain and analyse samples in its sophisticated onboard laboratory.The mission, which will attempt to discover if ice in the permafrost was ever water, is described as a stepping stone to further assessment of the planet's potential to support basic life and Nasa's plans to eventually send humans to Mars.Photographs showing Phoenix's exact position on the ground are expected to be captured when Odyssey next passes overhead.The mission has involved scientists from around the world, including the UK. Dr Tom Pike, whose team from Imperial College London provided soil-holding discs for the probe's two on-board microscopes, said the team at JPL was both tearful and exhilarated at the successful touchdown."It has been a long journey for all of us - some people including myself have spent more than a decade preparing for this," he said.The Phoenix is the first spacecraft in four years to land on the Red Planet and not since Nasa's Viking missions in the 1970s has the space agency managed to successfully put down a craft using rockets to slow its decent rather than air bags to cushion its landing.Many feared the 420 million dollar venture could end the way 55 percent of all previous efforts had - in failure."Tonight this team made history," said Charles Elachi, director of JPL. "There's no telling what discoveries we will be seeing over the next 90 days."
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MY FAVOURITE ACTOR

Name: Salman Khan
Date of Birth: December 27, 1965
Zodiac Sign: Capricorn
Address: 3 Galaxy Apartments B.J.Road, Bandstand, Bandra, Bombay - 400050

FAMILYParents: Salim Khan & Salma Helen Sisters: Alvira & Arpita Brothers: Arbaaz & Sohail Sisters-in-law: Malaika & Seema Brother-in-law: Atul Agnihotri Niece: Alizeh Nephews: Nirvaan, Ayaan & Arhaan

First Films : Biwi Ho To Aisi (in a supporting role), Maine Pyar Kiya (in a leading role).

Nature: Moody and unpredicatable. Can be very caring, very protective, very loving, and also childishly petulant.

Style of Clothing:Very rarely wears formals. Loves to wear casuals espe cially, black and blue, tight fitting jeans with shirts and T-shirts. Shops in London and ocasionally, in Singapore. Mostly wears Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace.