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Projects: Messages from EarthPhoenix DVD with 250,000 Names Ready to Launch to Mars
May 23, 2007 As part of our Messages from Earth project, The Planetary Society collected names to travel to Mars on board the Phoenix lander. I'm happy to announce the silica glass mini-DVD with a quarter million names on it (including all Planetary Society members) has been installed on the Phoenix spacecraft and is ready to go to Mars! In addition to the names, the disc also contains Visions of Mars, a collection of literature and art about the Red Planet. The names and Visions of Mars were written to the silica mini-DVD by the company Plasmon OMS using a special technique. The resulting archival disk should last at least hundreds of years on the Martian surface, ready to be picked up by future explorers. After the disc was written, a special label was applied to the disc to identify it for future explorers. Then, the whole assembly was "baked out" (to kill microbes and also to reduce future outgassing of the materials), and Lockheed Martin in Colorado installed it onto the spacecraft. After installation, the spacecraft underwent further testing and assembly, was shipped to Cape Canaveral, and is now being prepared for its August launch to Mars. Phoenix will arrive and land in the northern near-polar regions on Mars in late May or early June 2008 (exact date depends on actual launch date). We'll keep you posted on the mission as it progresses towards launch, and of course, update you on its launch and landing. Next stop: Mars! --Bruce Betts
Phoenix Arrives at the CapeBe a Part of the ExcitementAs a member of the Planetary Society you do more than just witness advances in planetary exploration and discovery, you actually play a role in making them happen.
NASA's next Mars mission, the Phoenix lander, has winged its way to Florida aboard a C-17 transport plane, according to Leonard David, who apparently got to hitch a ride with the spacecraft yesterday. He says the landing was smooth, so Phoenix should be good to go for its final assembly and testing before its planned August launch. It's going to be an exciting summer, bracketed by the launch of two small but capable missions, Dawn to the asteroid belt and Phoenix to Mars! See pictures of Phoenix's arrival » Visions of MarsThe First Library on Mars
Visions of Mars is a message from our world to future human inhabitants on Mars encoded on a special silica mini-DVD along with the names of over a quarter million people from around the world. The DVD will launch on its way to the Red Planet in 2007 aboard the spacecraft Phoenix. Contained on the DVD are personal messages from leading space visionaries of our time and a priceless collection of Mars literature and art. Find out more about Visions of Mars » View the complete listings of the texts, the artwork, and the radio broadcasts included on the DVD. Introduction to Visions of MarsBy Peter Hollingsworth SmithPrincipal Investigator, Phoenix This message precedes a collection of stories and essays that are intended as a time capsule. Most of these stories come from the most famous science fiction writers of our day. They springboard from the latest scientific knowledge to weave visionary tales of the future. In return the stories inspire young readers to dream of magical futures and, later as adults, become part of the leading edge of scientific discovery. This cyclical exchange between fact and fiction is the basis for the creative art of science.
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