iReport.com: See more photos from Explorer Island and and the event >>
NASA’s JPL sim “Explorer Island” was full to capacity this sunday as space exploration enthusiasts gathered for the final hours of the Mars Odyssey/Phoenix Lander reaching Mars and preparing for the deployment and landing of the Phoenix Lander. Explorer Island is JPL’s gateway for Second Life residents to experience space exploration and education as well as keep up to date on current space exploration events, JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)style.

This is an impressive sim to say the least. The sim landing point alone has hours worth of sights to explore and interactive content. Stationed in Orbit at roughly 350 meters is the Magellan Probe experience (photos included) with information about the history of the Magellan missions. In orbit much higher at 650 meters is the Victoria Station Visitors Center at the Mars Victoria Crater site (photos included). Here you will be awed by the experience of going “into” the Victoria Crater on Mars. For the best experience, your draw distance should be set to max for that “I’m on Mars” feeling. Victoria Station Visitor Center also has images and experiences for the Viking missions to Mars, and so much more on Explorer island about the history of space exploration.

Today was a special day for many at NASA, JPL, University of Arizona and Second Life residents and space enthusiasts. Phoenix Lander - Landed on Mars polar region at 4:53pm PDT (May, 25th, 200 carried to and deployed by the Mars Odyssey Orbiter which made the 422-million-mile flight at roughly 60,000mph from Earth to Mars after launching on Aug. 4, 2007, in about 7000 hours. The landing, delayed by only 7 seconds but within normal landing times, put the Phoenix Lander at the furthest side of the landing zone. The Phoenix Lander landed almost perfectly flat and level and being less than a 1/4 of a degree off vertical center, is considered a perfect landing.

Pictures were received at the University Arizona Science Center almost exactly 2 hours after landing and transmitted to the JPL Mission control at the California Institute of Technology shortly after to an elated science team (photos included). The data (telemetry) takes 15 minutes to reach earth at the speed of light making remote control of the flight and landing impossible. Onboard programs provide all the necessary instructions for a successful flight and landing with the exception that course corrections can be sent from earth during flight if need be.

The Flight Operations team had been dismissed only minutes earlier when the Surface Operations team had taken over and prepared for the first photos to reach earth. The first photos were scheduled to be of the deployment of the solar collection array that will start charging the landers batteries for use by the onboard equipment. The second photo would be of Phoenix landing pads and the surrounding mars ground around them followed by photos of the horizon. Mars Lunar rovers have been present on the planet for going on 4 years. Past missions to Mars: Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Pathfinder (first landing rover) and 30 years ago the Viking Missions to mars Viking 1, launched on 20 August 1975, and Viking 2, launched on 9 September 1975. Each spacecraft consisted of an orbiter and a lander. (no rovers at that time) Mission teams: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver; and the University of Arizona, Tucson.

This was the first successful Mars landing without airbags since Viking 2 in 1976. Another critical deployment will be the first use of the 7.7-foot-long robotic arm on Phoenix, which will not be attempted for at least two days. Researchers will use the arm during future weeks to get samples of soil and ice into laboratory instruments on the lander deck. Images: Courtesy NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona (more images available at http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=0&cID=7) Links: Phoenix Mars Mission - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html Phoenix Mars Lander Blog - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/blogs/index.html This is Rocket Flasheart reporting for CNN in Second Life.
Posted by Rocket Flasheart

Princeton University in Second Life announces “Diversity”on the Princeton Groups sim Scope Cleaver- Architect Poid Mahovlich - Terraform Artist The “Diversity” building on Princeton Groups island is intended as a social gathering place for Princeton University student groups and organizations. The commission stipulated a warm and friendly location where students could meet, chat, and organize events in Second Life. The resulting sim is a thoughtful contrast of Second Life resources with real world concerns. The stark, evocative landscape provides a foil for the elegance of the architectural composition. The central building’s rainbow colors exemplify the lively, multicultural community for whom it was built. The present generation of Princeton students will someday grapple with the environmental issues suggested in the desert terrain of the sim. “Diversity” is architect Scope Cleaver’s fifth building on the Princeton University in Second Life islands. Like his other full-sim composition at Princeton in SL–Alexander Beach–it shows an expansive use of scale that unexpectedly creates intimate social spaces. Uncharacteristic of Scope are the warm, organic building textures, which underscore the building’s function as a community center. The organic theme is carried into the building’s massing, originally suggested to the architect by a photograph of a nautilus shell. Poid Mahovlich, SL terraformer, designed and executed a landscape that would provide interest and focus to the building. More than that, the landscape itself is a series of destinations inviting exploration. A variety of walks and suggestive vignettes reveal artistic discoveries, environmental statements, and sweeping vistas from which to appreciate the greater composition of landscape and architecture. Architecture and landscape merge in a delightful collaboration between Scope and Poid under the “Diversity” building. Don’t leave without discovering it! —————————————————————- location SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Princeton%20Groups/130/47/22 —————————————————————- Artist statements: Scope Cleaver says: “Science is about describing things, describing reality . . . describing what there is. Design is about what should be. It’s trying to bend the world, bend the environment, to your vision.” Poid Mahovlich says: “I build creatively using smoke and mirrors. I am a geek dreamer; driven by ethereal fuel some days, nerdtech and biscuits on others. I have a passion for terraforming, sculpting pixel earth is an evolutionary process of discovery where you enter a very different head space. I am a Real Life professional conceptual Artist: a self-proclaimed Wizard who has a severe allergy to Hawaiian shirts.”
Posted by Poid Mahovlich