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Archive

Archived posts are listed in reverse chronological order.


  • Aug. 4, 2007 | 08:35 PDT | 15:35 UTC
    Phoenix wrapup
    Just watching the post-launch press conference now, and as of 11:00 a.m. Phoenix is already halfway to the Moon. The spacecraft is power-positive, which my friend Doug remarked in a chat room early this morning is "more than we can say for all Mars... More»
  • Aug. 4, 2007 | 03:44 PDT | 10:44 UTC
    Phoenix is now on its way to Mars!
    The spacecraft is now spinning up to 70 revolutions per minute... Third stage separated and ignited! Go go go... Good quality data from Hawaii... TECO! Third stage cutoff! Everything nominal... With that final third-stage burn, Phoenix is now... More»
  • Aug. 4, 2007 | 03:41 PDT | 10:41 UTC
    Second stage burn complete
    Nearly one Earth orbit after launch, over the Pacific Ocean, Phoenix' second stage should have restarted. Two minutes for that burn...there's no realtime data yet though. Signal hasn't yet been acquired in Hawaii. Now they have the signal! Few... More»
  • Aug. 4, 2007 | 02:38 PDT | 09:38 UTC
    And now, we wait
    Phoenix is away from Florida; its first and second stages appear to have performed absolutely beautifully. Now there is a 1-hour wait -- apparently, the longest in Delta launch history -- before the second firing of the second stage motor. Phoenix... More»
  • Aug. 4, 2007 | 02:32 PDT | 09:32 UTC
    Second stage ignition!
    No longer visible on TV, now we just listen to the commentary. At T+300 seconds, the second stage is burning, the first stage jettisoned... Now 81 miles altitude (stupid Imperial units)... The fairing should have split off by now, exposing the... More»
  • Aug. 4, 2007 | 02:26 PDT | 09:26 UTC
    There she goes!
    3--2--1--main engine start LIFTOFF! A shining flare...straight up... Six solids are burning strongly... Past Mach 1...supersonic! Solids tapering off... First stage "performance looking good" Six solid motors jettisoned! Three more... More»
  • Aug. 4, 2007 | 02:23 PDT | 09:23 UTC
    T minus 4 and counting!
    The official launch count has resumed...four minutes to go! Oxygen is still venting in a long stream from the center of the rocket... T minus 3... Third stage is being armed... I just heard "Go Phoenix!" over the NASA commentary...not a cheer,... More»
  • Aug. 4, 2007 | 02:14 PDT | 09:14 UTC
    Phoenix: Launch minus 12 minutes and weather is "go"
    I'm up now, I'm plugged in to all my various media, and it looks like I didn't get up for nothing; Phoenix is ready to go, and the biggest potential problem for launch -- weather -- appears to be clear. It sure looks like Phoenix will go off... More»
  • Aug. 3, 2007 | 21:20 PDT | Aug. 4 04:20 UTC
    Getting ready for Phoenix launch: Step 1: Sleep
    So I'm done with Anahita's first birthday festivities and have just spent a few minutes tuning in to various information sources on Phoenix' launch. Things are looking good so far for the launch to proceed as scheduled for 5:26 a.m. Eastern time,... More»
  • Aug. 3, 2007 | 15:54 PDT | 22:54 UTC
    Hubble views of Mars' dust storm
    Image processing magician Ted Stryk just sent me a couple of recent views of Mars from the Hubble Space Telescope. The data for these images was taken on July 23 and 27, while the rovers were suffering under the darkest skies they'd seen throughout... More»