Phoenix Comedy

Mars is a planet that has received considerable attention from Hollywood over the years. For decades, the mid to late 20th century, Hollywood produces movie after movie depicting Martians as little green men who were invading Earth bad. Sometimes men are from Mars simply sported green face paint, but they almost always wore a combination of a certain type.

Sometimes, however, the Martians are not small or green. In movies called "Flying Disc Man From Mars" (1950) and "Flight to Mars" (1951), the Martians looked just like us. However, in a 1960 film called "the wrath of the Red Planet." There is no shortage of scary creatures from Mars. Monsters March included green giant bat spiders, man-eating plants, amorphous stain slide with one eye, three eyes and Martians with devil horns.

In "The War of the Worlds, HG Wells's classic 1898 novel, Martian invaders are described as having a tremor, the V-shaped mouth, the enormous brains with tentacles, eyes intense, dark and oily skin . Martians used robots for manual labor.

In 1953 the film "Invaders from Mars", Hollywood shows Martians for the first time in color. While the captain of Mars is closest literary creature Wells, workers are humanoid, with eyes like ping pong and three fingers. And they are unique in their cap with oversized zipper running up the back.

However, in the 1960s, the television would give a more positive impression of the Martians. In 1963, the comedy "My Favorite Martian, Ray Walston lovable actor only distinguish between human beings by the retractable antenna sitting on top of the head of the man otherwise normal.

I thought about how all this science fiction and Hollywood hype has shaped our thinking about Mars, as I watched the successful landing of the spacecraft from NASA robotics on the surface of the planet the other day. I was wondering if the late 20th century writers of science fiction Hollywood could never imagine a day when a spaceship from Earth would actually enter the Martian atmosphere. They certainly could never imagine a spaceship that is traveling at a speed of 13,000 miles per hour in just seven minutes before landing because a designated area on the Martian surface.

In fact, entry into the Martian atmosphere and landing on the surface of the planet was considered the most dangerous part of the Phoenix mission by NASA scientists. However, the probe would land perfectly in the plains of Vastitas Borealis in the Martian arctic circle. This mission had been planned since the Mars Odyssey detected frozen water below the surface of the planet in 2002. The landing of Phoenix Mars at a latitude similar to northern Alaska on Earth.

The purpose of Phoenix is to discover not only the history of the planet's water and ice, but also that the region could support microbial life. Crucial to this question will be tests for complex chemicals containing carbon (organic matter) in soil and signs that the ice melts periodically. Other soil test determines the abundance of various minerals and laboratory dust grains also subject to microscopic examination.

Phoenix will be stopped for three months on Mars where it transacts these scientists on the surface of the planet. Phoenix stereo camera, located on its 2 meters (6.6 feet) mast, will use two "eyes" to reveal a view at high resolution of the geology of the destination site. It will also provide distribution maps for use in choosing where to dig. Multi-spectral capability will enable the identification of local minerals.

The boat of solar energy will deploy a robotic arm to dig vertically into the soil to the ice on the planet. The arm was designed to deliver Martian soil samples to the laboratory probe wet chemistry and small furnaces for scientific analysis. Samples.