Phoenix has one final important task that it will serve for decades if
not centuries until it is found by future explorers: As a remote library holding many works of literature, art, and commentary about the Red
Planet by those who made Phoenix and the other Mars explorers possible.
The Visions of Mars CD is expected to last from 500 to 1,000 years
intact. Hopefully we will have colonized the planet by then.
See here for the details:
http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/messages/phoenix_dvd.html
I just wonder if there will be anyone able to read the data by the time it is found. As the recent Universe Today article on the Apollo lunar
dust data tapes attest, four decade old media stored on this planet is
almost unreadable now, so why should we expect future historians to have access to a CD player on Mars?
http://www.universetoday.com/2008/11/10/forgotten-apollo-data-could-solve-moon-dust-problem/
Space/Science » in reply to Some other news related to the Red Planet
One final task for Phoenix
The whole thread (19 posts)
- Nasa Mars mission declared dead