Mars lander Phoenix enters the martian orbit this afternoon, and there are several places you can watch the event “live”. I put live in quotes since there is a 15 minute delay between when it happens and when we see it, due to the distance that it has to travel to get back to us.

The landing is being referred to by NASA as “7 minutes of terror”, and there is good reason for this. The Phoenix will enter the atmosphere traveling between 12,000 and 13,000 mph, and will slow to just 5 miles per hour by the time it reaches the surface.

Of the last thirteen attempt to land on the surface, only five have been successful, so while they are hopefully optimistic, they are working against the odds on this one.

If you want to watch, you can do so here :

[ CNN with Miles O’Brien ] will stream the landing live on the internet at this link.
[ NASA TV ] will have coverage both on the web and on TV
[ National Radio Astronomy Observatory ] will also have it available.

Tags: Landing, Mars, NASA, Phoenix, Space