In celebration of the 25 May 2008 Phoenix Mars Lander’s touchdown on the Little Red Planet, I decided to republish some of my earlier Mars related edutoons.
From Wikipedia:
Phoenix is a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program. The scientists conducting the mission will use instruments aboard the Phoenix lander to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars, and to research the history of water there. The multi-agency program is headed by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, under the direction of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The program is a partnership of universities in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, the Philippines, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, and other aerospace companies.[1]
Phoenix is the sixth successful landing on Mars, out of twelve total international attempts (the sixth successful landing of seven American attempts). It is the third successful static lander and the first since Viking 2, and as of 2008 the most recent spacecraft to land successfully on Mars. It is also the first successful landing on a polar region of Mars.
That little guy reminds me of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. That’s pretty rad about the Olympus, I didn’t know anything about it, see how planet wise I am? LOL You should definably make a book or something. It’d be very kid friendly.
@Chica, yeah, Calvin was definitely the inspiration behind the character. I’m really just a big child, that’s what my better half says anyway, so, it’s pretty easy for me to be child friendly
I’ve always been a bit of a space geek, so I share your Mars explorer excitement. That’s a very cool cartoon, and beyond the Olympus Mons being referenced in a Pixies song I never knew much about it.
Francis Scudellari’s last blog post..Terminal sigh
Really great cartoon, nice work! What a great way to get kids interested in science
ArtSchoolTv’s last blog post..Academy of Art University Plein Air Demonstration