[X] My Assistant

[Stu]

Glad you like it, but I must point out that that was ALL Rui's work, so creatively adding the pictures and poem together, and all those visual effects too. I just provided the text. I can't put into words how grateful I am to Rui for turning one of my poems into something so, well, beautiful...

For anyone who wants to read the poem without the Star Wars opening titles effect, here it is...

ARRIVAL

Phoenix I was named, and tomorrow
I will finally taste and fly in flame!
Screaming through the martian sky, the light
of my arrival will be bright enough
to put to shame the twin moons’ gloomy glow,
and should those weary rovers far below me
lift their dust-dimmed eyes towards the stars
they’ll see me slicing through their heaven, far
brighter and more glorious than any mere meteor.
And I, wrapped in great flapping sheets
of flame – Barsoom’s own Beowulf, riding
the raging dragon of Entry and Descent –
will cry out loudly “I am here!”

I do not fear the landing; nor do I waste
my time with worries of the million ways
my mayfly life could end before I even reach
the frozen ground. If I fail, my broken body found
a hundred years from now,
an almost-not-there stain upon Green Valley’s
barren floor my story will still be
one of victory, for I was never meant to fly;
if Fate had smiled on others meant
to touch the face of Mars I would not even
have been born, and my eyes and hands
and feet would all have flown elsewhere.

But here I am! And as Mars looms ever larger
up ahead my dream-dulled head begins
to fill with thoughts of with what I’ll see
tomorrow, when these gritty, sleep-filled eyes
of mine awake and open for the first time.
An endless open plain of ochre stone, painfully
bare, with just a lonely, frost-fringed rock
placed here and there to catch my roving eye?
Or will great boulders stand nearby,
high enough to hide the far horizon from
my view? I’ll know this, and more, soon…

One thing I will never know is
The brittle beauty of a starry martian sky.
From my valley home, so close to the gateau-layered pole,
Sol will circle me like a long lost bird;
never rising, never setting,
a molten metal ball rolling ‘round the rim
of my world as I stand alone
in the land of the Shrunken Midnight Sun,
watching my shadow sweep around me
for hour after endless, endless hour.
I shall be a sundial, marking time until I die.

Before then, my faithful friends, I long to show you wonders!
But if my flight ends in Mars’ air, and no word
is heard from me again then promise me you’ll send
another in my place, for there are secrets
and surprises here that cry out to be found,
and though I hope to dig beneath the frigid ground
to touch and taste the water there I know
Mars has destroyed more of my kind
than it has granted life. So lift your eyes
up to the sky, and as these final tortuous hours tick by
wish me nothing more than peace, and
keep me company as I sleep.

© Stuart Atkinson 2008

[ustrax]

You deserve it man...

"But if my flight ends in Mars’ air..."

But if my flight ends in Mars’ air?! Don't you dare to even think about going my 100% chance of success prediction!

[djellison]

Oh F*** we're on the front page of the Phoenix website

My thoughts here

Doug

[nprev]

Bummer!!! Great job, guys, all around!

[SpaceListener]

Will DSN be tracking closely to Phoenix until when? I assume it will be until the cruise part is separated from Phoenix. That is it would be between 7-9 minutes before to the landing.

Then, which of the three Mars orbiters will be tracking closely to Phoenix during its EDL and first hours on Martian land?

[elakdawalla]

All three orbiters are listening. Odyssey will be relaying Phoenix telemetry directly to the Deep Space Network at Goldstone. The other two will be recording for later playback; both start playback around 00:30 UT on May 26, but the data won't be available for a couple hours. On top of that, the Green Bank radio telescope will be tracking the carrier signal.

--Emily

[climber]

Rui, Stu, Doug, Emily, Others...
I do not fing words! (even in French ).
A few years ago, I was thinking Nasa was given us the best we could hope for. I was wrong. What would space exploration be like without what you're doing ? Without your dedication, without your expertise, without your spirit ?
Go UMSF, Go SpacEurope, Go TPS, Go Phoenix

[tedstryk]

Awesome...Doug, that rendering is incredible.

[deglr6328]

Oh F*** we're on the front page of the Phoenix website
Doug

OMGZ! I just went to the Phoenix homepage and saw your name! congratulations!

[dmuller]

Announcement for those following the Phoenix Real-Time Simulation at http://www.dmuller.net/phoenix
Just in case anything goes wrong with the server, there is a backup / mirror site of the script at http://www.dmuller.com/phoenix
Enjoy watching the landing! Daniel

[dmuller]

Then, which of the three Mars orbiters will be tracking closely to Phoenix during its EDL and first hours on Martian land?

SpaceListener, in addition to Emily's answer; Phoenix will switch off its radio one minute after touchdown and wait for the orbiters to be back in radio reach. Have a look at this: http://www.planetary.org/image/EDL_Geometry_8a.jpg

[brellis]

This fly on the thread wall says, congrats and thanks all around to everyone for helping bring the Phoenix experience closer than I ever thought possible!

[imipak]

Spotted this in a CNN pre-landing story (in the middle of generic copy about EDL events, the chances of success, nailbiting, etc):

iReport.com: Send your photos, video of space

Now's your chance for some royalties, Doug - send them your SpacEurope images! It's the closest thing they're going to get in the next 34 hours...

[ustrax]

Oh F***

My thought too...cool ain't it?...

...And I love you too...you know that don't you?...

Man...we're getting all emotional around here...it must be those butterflies...

[Stu]

For those who haven't seen it yet, Emily has a link to an excellent NASA TV portal site on the TPS Blog... very high quality... I've just been watching some great footage shot onboard ISS...