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It does seem a bit odd to me. The way it looks to me is that by then it will be night time at the lander site, but I guess I'm missing something big there

Does Canberra have the honor of receiving EDL or the first image data?

EDL goes through Goldstone. Canberra comes into line of sight (of the relaying spacecrafts) just after landing and will hopefully carry the first image.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled to land on the Martian northern plains near 68 degrees north latitude, 127 degrees west longitude on May 25, 2008. In preparation for the landing, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been monitoring weather in the region around the landing site. On April 20, 2008, the orbiter's Context Camera captured this view showing two active dust devils within the Phoenix landing ellipse.

This is a subframe covering an area about 26 kilometers (16 miles) on each side, part of a larger image posted at PIA10632. It shows two dust devils and their shadows. Based on measurement of the shadows cast by the dust devils, one of the vortices towered about 590 meters (about 1,930 feet) with a dust plume extending 920 meters (about 3,020 feet) above the surface. The other reached about 390 meters (1,280 feet) high, with a dust plume extending to 790 meters (2,590 feet). The resolution here is 6 meters (19.7 feet) per pixel.

When the Context Camera acquired this image, the season in Mars' northern hemisphere was late spring. A few weeks earlier, the Phoenix landing site was still covered with seasonal frost left over from the previous winter. White patches in small craters near the center of the picture are areas where the winter frost remained, even as late as April 20.

As spring gives way to summer, dust devils are likely to occur more frequently, as local temperatures rise. These two dust devils observed in late April are among the first of the season. The cameras on the Phoenix lander might be able to spot additional dust devils after the spacecraft arrives, as the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has been able to do at its southern hemisphere landing site.

Dust devils are whirling vortices that have picked up dust from the ground. Such vortices can occur even when no dust is present, but then they are not visible to the cameras onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Such vortices commonly form as hot air rises from the surface on an otherwise generally calm day with little or no breeze. Dust devils will travel across the surface on the gentle breezes that do occur. Sometimes, dust devils have been observed by cameras orbiting Mars to create streaks on the ground as they disrupt and pick up dust, though no streaks are observed in this image.

Dawn continues its powered flight, having accumulated more than 100 days of ion thrusting since its launch nearly 7 months ago. All systems are healthy as the probe patiently and persistently propels itself through the solar system.

In addition to its weekly hiatus in thrusting to point its main antenna to Earth for about 6 hours, Dawn's flight plan includes occasional longer intervals to conduct special activities. On March 31, the spacecraft stopped its ion beam, turned to Earth, reported on its activities from the previous week, and indicated its readiness (even eagerness!) for whatever plans mission control had devised. This period, scheduled well before launch, was planned to last 10 days.

To begin, the team loaded into the spacecraft's main computer updated software that simplifies operation of the science instruments. Such "science blocks" had already been used in the mission, but with the experience gained from the tests of the instruments in the initial checkout phase, the team made some improvements. After thorough testing with instrument simulators, the modified science blocks had been deemed ready for installation on the spacecraft. They were used during the rest of the week, as each of Dawn's science instruments received special attention.

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The data was acquired in the region lying at approximately 3° north and 121° east with a ground resolution of 15 m/pixel.

The southern part of the image shows a structure reminiscent of a river delta on Earth whose material was eroded from a valley, about 30 km long and upto 1000 m deep. This formed a fan-shaped deposit at the mouth of the valley. The rim of the deposit stands roughly 300 m above the floor of the depression.

The resemblance of the structure to river deltas on Earth suggests that it was formed by a similar mechanism. Scientists believe that sediment transported by water was deposited as the flow of the water slowed down where the channel widened and met the mouth of the river.

The mirror of the Herschel telescope has now been assembled with the payload and service module, completing the spacecraft structure - an important milestone in the days following through to launch.

The sunshield and solar arrays were assembled with the cryostat and service module on 11 April. The telescope was assembled on 16 April. The spacecraft will be subjected to several mechanical tests over the next few weeks.

Tomorrow morning at 5AM the folks at ATK Launch Services will begin pouring the first of 47 large vats of the propellant...and that's only for 1 of the 5 Ares I stages.

It didn't need to invade a country...