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NASA has reported that the Phoenix Mars lander landed safely today and has sent images back showing that it is in good condition. Congratulations to all the people at the JPL and others at NASA involved in the project! It’s truly an amazing achievement.

Scientists at NASA had reported that they gave the landing a 50% chance of success, so naturally the landing was very stressful. It was broadcast live on NASA TV (and yes, I watched it) and was extremely stressful even for a viewer.  But it was very exciting when they received confirmation of a successful landing, and even more exciting later as the landing poll reported that nearly everything had gone exactly as expected.

The lander’s 90 day mission will analyze the soil and ice at a polar region of mars to look for signs of life.

EETimes has a very interesting article on recent research which has demonstrated that a material can be made to superconduct at room temperature by super-compressing the compound rather than super-cooling it.

The article does not discuss the potential for practical applications for this research, but if this method proves to be reliable and fairly economical, it would be a fantastic scientific development. There are a wide range of implications, such as the ability to send power across power lines without losing any energy, or to create electrical devices without the need for cooling. Dr. Richard Muller, professor of the Physics for Future Presidents course at UC Berkeley, has given very good explanations of how superconductors work and the uses of room-temperature superconducting materials.