Monday, May 26, 2008

Comparison of Phoenix to MRO

Phoenix and MRO are really quite different, in a lot of ways. I attended both launch parties, and would just like to point out some differences in the two spacecraft MOI/landing events.

1. The two landings/MOI took place at about the same time of day, although MRO was on a Friday (Right before spring break).
2. The Phoenix landing was filled with thousands of people pouring into every space they could get. The MRO still had plenty of empty seats in Kuiper Space Sciences largest room.
3. As of MRO MOI, the science team still had 7 months or so to prepare, and was still hiring (Myself included). At Phoenix Landing, the mission will be over in 7 months for sure, lots of pressure is being put on the immediate mission to do as much as possible.
4. MRO's first images took hours to be transmitted. Phoenix only took a few minutes.

So, well, there's just a few things of note between the two missions. Kind of interesting.

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