Radio Telescopes to Keep Sharp Eye on Mars Lander
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Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. CREDIT: NRAO/AUI/NSF
As NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander descends through the Red Planet's atmosphere toward its landing on May 25, its progress will be scrutinized by radio telescopes from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). At NRAO control rooms in Green Bank, West Virginia, and Socorro, New Mexico, scientists, engineers and technicians will be tracking the faint signal from the lander, 171 million miles from Earth.
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