Phoenix Lander Mural

Here are some of my sweetiests students on a field trip to the Mars Phoenix Lander building last month. This mural is painted on the side of the Mission Operations Center where the mission was run. This image was taken at 24mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/7.1, ISO 100.

Mockup with trenches

Here is another view of the Phoenix Lander mockup showing the practice trenches which mimic the ones actually dug on Mars. This image was taken at 24mm focal length with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/2.5, ISO 800.

Phoenix Lander Engineering mockup

I went to the Phoenix Mission Operations Center last week with my wife and some of her students. Here is the engineering mockup that is used to practice procedures on before sending commands up to the lander on Mars. They've even got rocks and trenches in all the right places. This image was taken at 50mm focal length (with the "nifty fifty" lens) with an exposure of 1/100 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 800.

Watching the first images from Phoenix

Just 2 hours after landing, we got to see the very first pictures downloaded from the Phoenix Lander on Mars. Here, Alfred McEwen, leader of the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, examines one of the first images. This image was taken at 50mm focal length with an exposure of 1/60 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 800.

Awaiting word from Mars

This is the atrium at the Lunar and Planetary Lab in Tucson where I work. In this image an anxious crowd awaits word from the Phoenix Lander as it descended through the Martian atmosphere on its way to a successful landing yesterday. If you haven't seen the first pictures from this new place on Mars, check out the Phoenix Lander home page. This image was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/30 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400.