Saturday morning (8-4) United Launch Alliance is scheduled to launch the
Mars Phoenix Lander for NASA on a Delta II rocket (7925 configuration)
from SLC-17A, Cape Canaveral, Florida. This will be the 326th flight
of a Delta rocket.

Launch is scheduled for 5:26 a.m. EDT. and a second attempt at 6:02 a.m.
EDT. both windows are 1 second long.

Phoenix Lander separation occurs approximately 84 minutes after liftoff.

The Phoenix Lander will investigate a site in the far north of Mars for
water

The landing region has water ice in soil close to the surface, which
NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter found to be the case for much of the
high-latitude terrain in both the north and south hemispheres of Mars.

Phoenix will dig down to the icy layer. It will examine soil in place at
the surface, at the icy layer and in between, and it will scoop up
samples for analysis by its onboard instruments. One key instrument will
check for water and carbon-containing compounds by heating soil samples
in tiny ovens and examining the vapors that are given off. Another will
test soil samples by adding water and analyzing the dissolution
products. Cameras and microscopes will provide information on scales
spanning 10 powers of 10, from features that could fit by the hundreds
into the period at the end of this sentence to an aerial view taken
during descent. A weather station will provide information about
atmospheric processes in an arctic region where a coating of carbon-
dioxide ice comes and goes with the seasons.

Broadcast coverage:

Coverage starts at 3:15 am EDT.

NASA TV MPEG2 available on AMC-6 at 72° W, transponder 17C (4040 V)
SR: 26665 VPID: 273 APID: 276 PCR: 273 (public channel)
VPID: 4145 APID: 4148 PCR: 4145 (media channel)

NASA TV MPEG2 available on AMC-7 at 137° W, transponder 18 (4060 V)
SR: 26665 VPID: 273 APID: 276 PCR: 273 (public channel)
VPID: 4145 APID: 4148 PCR: 4145 (media channel)

Don't have a dish? Webcast is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

Additional coverage at:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/phoenix/status.html
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/launches/next_launch.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html

--

Dishnut-P

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