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Adrenaline is running high as engineers and scientists await
the Sunday, May 25 touchdown of NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander on
northern Mars. If all goes as planned, Phoenix will help
answer questions about water on Mars and whether the northern
plains could ever have been hospitable to life. More information
is online at http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix
. Full podcast interview is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcast/phoenix-20080517/
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CUT 1 - MARS PHOENIX LANDER PROJECT MANAGER BARRY GOLDSTEIN
OF NASA'S JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, PASADENA, CALIF., EXPLAINS
THE GOALS OF THE MISSION.
Running time: :21
OUT: "PLAINS OF MARS"
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Transcript of CUT 1: "Well, Phoenix is going to be the first mission
to hopefully successfully land north of the arctic circle on Mars.
And the reason we're going there is consistent with the Mars program
theme of following the water. We're actually going to dig
and analyze the recently discovered near-surface water, ice water
in the northern plains of Mars."
CUT 2 - MARS PHOENIX LANDER PROJECT MANAGER BARRY GOLDSTEIN
SAYS THE FINAL MOMENTS, AS THE SPACECRAFT SLOWS DOWN BEFORE LANDING,
ARE WELL-ORCHESTRATED, BUT EVERYTHING HAS TO GO RIGHT.
Running time: :24
OUT: "MAKES PEOPLE NERVOUS"
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Transcript of CUT 2: "We have a lot of things going on in the
span of the last 14 minutes before touchdown, we have 26 events,
pyrotechnic events, separations and deployments that have to go
right. And for all those things to happen autonomously in
that quick period of time outside of our control, we can't react
to those problems from Earth, obviously. There's a lot that
has to go right in a short period of time, so it makes people
nervous."
CUT 3 -MARS PHOENIX LANDER PROJECT MANAGER
BARRY GOLDSTEIN SAYS HE AND THE TEAM WILL BE HOLDING THEIR BREATH
DURING THOSE FINAL MOMENTS.
Running time: :18
OUT: "PERIOD OF TIME"
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Play audio
Transcript of CUT 3: "Entry descent and landing, no matter what
system you used, no matter how often it's worked in the past,
by its very nature, because it's happening autonomously, it's
happening outside of your control, and all the hardware, all the
long hours, all the sleepless nights of worrying about problems,
all comes down to that final period of time."
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