Ya, that is the middle. A second unoffical report puts it at 68.5N 233.3 E; which I think is just over one sigma 'downwind' -20 to 40 km. Not bad for Mars!

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It's ok not to know.

For the U.S., it was 67% success for soft landings and 83% for all landings.
Now it's 75% for soft landings and 86% for all landings.

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NASA TV back. Doing a re-enactment of the landing, syncing up the voice calls with the animation.

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Sorry for sounding ignorant, but what does EDL stand for?

Panelists:
Mike Griffin, NASA Administrator
Ed Weiler, Associate Administrator for Science
Charles Elachi, Director of JPL
Peter Smith, Principal Investigator for Phoenix
Barry Goldstein, Project Manager, JPL
Ed Sedivy, Project Manager, Lockheed Martin

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Griffin: "Experts make the difficult look easy. You just saw a bunch of experts make something incredibly difficult look easy." Atmosphere interface point was accurate to within one part in ten million. Not many human activities are that accurate.

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Aurora and 01101001:

Yes, it makes sense that it could have happened long in the past. I can't imagine it being due to CO₂ in liquid form, as the atmospheric pressure isn't high enough to enable that phase. But perhaps as it and water form frost in extant cracks they exert pressure to make the cracks expand even further, similar to how it happens with liquid water freezing to ice in our polar regions.

But I'm having trouble imaging that the deposition or growth of CO₂ frost is a viable mechanism for reshaping the ground. I'm sure someone has an answer, but I'm too tired to search now. . . .

Weiler: Recognize members of team: Peter Smith, Lock-Mart, JPL, Canadian Space Agency (meteorology system), Germany/Max Planck (robotic arm).

Before tonight, 55% of all landing attempts failed. After tonight, 50%.

One part in ten million is like teeing off in Washington and hitting a hole-on-one in Sydney, Australia. Elachi adds, "And the hole is moving!"

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Elachi: Courageous people got Phoenix to the surface of Mars. Very risky mission. First to explore polar regions of Mars. Some of the best of all of NASA, every NASA center participated. Some of the best from academia, best from industry.

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Sorry. One for the acronym list...

Entry
Descent
Landing

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Smith: Ragging on the press: "If I didn't get some pictures down here, there was going to be a riot."

Showing the mosaic of four images. Seeing the polygonal train, small rocks. "Looks a little like a parking lot, but by gosh it's a safe place to land!" "Exactly the place we want to be. I guarantee there's ice under the surface."

Closer view. Little rocks, polygons about 15 feet across.

Even closer view, Aurora's one with the scraping. "Cutest polygon that I've ever seen."

Color image! Set of three vertical images. Variations in color of soil.

Haven't yet seen what we'll be digging into. And could be something quite different on other side of lander. "I couldn't be more pleased - this is a scientist's dream."

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Goldstein: Thanks to Langley Research Center (aerodynamic work), Dryden (testing radar in desert), Ames (testing heat shield, working on ground software), MRO and Odyssey, DSN, Neuchatel Institute (microscope), Finnish Meteorological Institute (pressure sensor). Hundreds of others.

Best data on landing: red circle. MRO will attempt to image lander. Toward right hand end of landing ellipse, at top. Will keep trying over next couple of days.

Image confirms three of the first landing deployments. Bio-barrier deployed, meteorological arm deployed, camera arm deployed.

Landing leg images. Didn't obliterate surface with thrusters. 0.1 m/sec horizontal velocity.

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Briefing images (or image archives)

Landing location image



A color image

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Sedivy: Dead solid all the way down, but a little downrange. EDL went "better than any of the test simulations we'd run." Thanks to Honeywell (landing radar, adapted from F-16), solar arrays (ATK, heritage from Mars Surveyor lander, similar technology to Constellation/Orion, so important for that), batteries (Yardney, more MS lander heritage, used on MERs), star trackers (Galileo Avonica).

Parachute deploy 6.5 seconds later than expected, downrange landing as a result. Touchdown seven seconds late. Vertical velocity 5 mph, horizontal 0.25 mph. Killing the horizontal velocity was a big deal.

Altitude convergence at 2188 meters up, pretty close. Velocity lock at 1549 meters. All the information absolutely needed. Backshell sep 962 meters. Tip-up 927 meters. Gravity turn 769 meters, nadir pointing. Constant velocity mode 54 meters (40 meters was minimum). Knew mission was in good shape at that point.

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Cool! A landing on Mars! And it didn't die or anything!

I was expecting to see CO2 snow, but I suppose that would have been too cold for the craft to operate?

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It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

Sedivy continued: comparing solar array animation with photos. No dust at all on solar arrays, good news. No dust on deck of lander, either.

Battery charge at 92% when Odyssey lost contact, expected 90%.

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Weiler: Thanks also to ESA for being ready to support with Mars Express if MRO or Odyssey hadn't come through.

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Q&A:

Ice near the surface? Peter: Not sure if streaks from thrusters, need to look closer to lander. Hoping there's a polygon trough in the digging area as well as a polygon.

Any detectable wind? Why chute deployment late? Sedivy: accelerometers signal parachute deploy, many things could cause it. No detectable surface winds.

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Any concern about toughness of surface? Peter: Practiced on very, very tough soils. Solid ice would be only problem. Arm worked in Death Valley. Just scrape away at it, get down 10-15 cm.

Any signs of frost? Peter: Only had few minutes to look, haven't seen any yet.

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How close terrain to expected? Any surprises? Peter: "The surprise is that it's so close to what we expected!" Terrain just the same to horizon, showed we didn't need wheels.

Coordinates on landing location? 234.3 longitude center of circle, 68.2 latitude. 25-28 km from center.

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