Human triumph on Mars

Forget, for a moment, about Obama.

Forget about Clinton's latest gaffe. Forget about idiot Fox commenters and their "slips of the tongue". Forget about Bush, about the economy, about gas.

Just for a moment, forget about all that.

Instead, look at this picture:

It doesn't look like much, does it? But what you are seeing is the Phoenix Mars lander, descending to the Red Planet's surface suspended under its parachute, just seconds before touching down. It was taken by the phenomenal HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was in position to capture this once-in-a-lifetime shot.

Here it is in higher resolution:

This has never been seen before. Ever. It shows what we can do. It's a human-made machine, acting autonomously, falling gracefully onto the surface of another world. The picture was taken by another man-made machine, already circling that world, where it has for years been obediently and faithfully opening our eyes to the beauty and wonder of an alien planet.

This is what we humans can do when we try. When we persist. And when we learn from our mistakes. We can literally touch other worlds.

So now go back to the elections, to the squabbling, to the hatred, to the greed, to the selfishness. But remember while you do that we can be better than that. We have been better than that. And we will continue to be better than that.

Comments

[garbovatwins]

Whenever you successfully venture into space it is a triumph. The universe waits to embrace you, but first you must put your own world back in balance.

[edgraham]

It's beautiful.

Ed Graham

[Dap]

Excellent post, while I support our manned space station fully, I am four square against manned exploration of space for now. It's too dangerous and is not cost effective. I like the robots and telescopes, we need more of them.

[SamEllison]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080526.html
Too cool!

[Dap]

Yeah I was there earlier today, I'm quite excited about it also.

[Johnnn]

I guess there's atmosphere on Mars of some significance if a parachute can work there.

[JXB]

Nice sentiment, thanks. Every so often it can be quite helpful to gaze at some of the images from Spirit, Opportunity, Cassini, Huygens, Hubble, etc. for a little perspective readjustment.

[VillyVal]

Colonizing Mars may be the last best hope for human kind.

To get there, to be among the colonists will require enduring a rigorous selection process.

It could set off an evolutionary leap for our species. Imagine what a species we could be if our average IQ was 130 instead of 105.

[grendl]

If Hillary's president, she'll colonize Mars within her first term.

[peacecorps66]

So let me understand this. Our government has enough money to go to Mars where there are no people, and to fight an illegal war where they kill the people that are there, but they don't have enough money for health care, education, Katrina victims, social security, etc. etc. for the people of America who are living on earth and actually need it. Am I missing something, or are our priorities screwed up?

[Phil Plait - Huffpost Blogger]

In a nutshell, yeah, you're missing something. For one thing, th war in Iraq is worse than useless, and predicated on a series of lies. Science and exploration are predicated on finding the truth. Comparing then isn't fair.

But there's a lot more to it. In a nutshell, NASA costs almost nothing compared to everything else the government does. Going to Mars like this costs less than a day's worth of Iraq.

I have a longer and more detailed explanation of why doing this is important, and still very cheap: http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/04/14/what-value-space-exploration/

[AuntSally]

Two points:

1. The Pheonix Mars mission price tag is a bit less than 30 hours of operations in Iraq;
2. Unlike Iraq, the Pheonix has a return on investment -- in knowledge, in inspiration, and in spinoff technologies.

[charon]

You can leave here for three days in space, but when you return, it's the same old place.

[burnt]

...and for humanity, Phoenix rose up from the ashes to discover the most valuable treasure in the universe... water.

[ganeshpuri89]

Stunning! Phoenix Mission, so far (fingers crossed), has been perfect. So perfect, in fact, Phoenix deployment phases matched perfectly the EDL animation video NASA released. JPL opened last night's presser with a short video (4:04) that intercut the EDL animation with video and audio from mission control. Way, way cool. Lucas and Spielberg eat your hearts out.

Phoenix Entry, Descent and Landing Recap Intercut with Animation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC_7mcT92ms#