NASA officials are wrestling with why the Phoenix Mars lander wound up shooting long within a pre-designated landing ellipse.

A better understanding of why Phoenix and several other Mars landings have made less than bulls-eye touchdowns is being flagged by NASA space science chief, Ed Weiler. It’s an issue that needs to be resolved, particularly given the accuracy needed for the NASA’s next Mars lander - the super expensive mega-rover, the Mars Science Laboratory.

Mars exploration program officials, for example, are curious whether or not Mars atmospheric models are accurate - or is something else at work in the entry, descent and landing profiles of Mars probes that’s not up to snuff.

In a related development, NASA is preparing a formal request to the European Space Agency to request that ESA’s Mars Express orbiter be used as standby to support Phoenix lander operations.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is experiencing on-going glitches in using its UHF link to Phoenix. That intermittent problem means more reliance on Odyssey, NASA’s other Mars orbiter.

ESA’s Mars Express is viewed as added assurance beyond Odyssey that the Phoenix Mars lander can fulfill its scientific duties over the months to come.

Robert Bonitz of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has been working on the Phoenix Mars Lander’s robotic arm for a long time — the arm was originally created for the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander in fact.

When the Phoenix Mars Lander was raised from the ashes of that failure, Bonitz began working on the arm again, this time for the lander to use to dig through the permafrost believed to underlie Mars’ arctic regions.

Phoenix project manager Barry Goldstein made a deal with Bonitz, who is an expert parachutist, in the early stages of the mission, about four-and-a-half years ago, that if Phoenix landed safely on the surface and completed its 90-day mission, he would do a tandem jump with Bonitz.

A few days after the bet, a meeting for Sept. 14, 2008 showed up on Goldstein’s network calendar, courtesy of Bonitz. But Goldstein didn’t think too much of it, considering how far away the date was at the time, he told reporters after a press briefing at JPL today.

Needless to say, after Sunday’s picture-perfect landing and the excellent performance of the spacecraft so far, Goldstein is becoming a little apprehensive about making that deal (personally, I can’t blame him). Whether Goldstein is going to follow-through on the deal hasn’t been decided yet — after all, the lander is only three sols (or Martian days) into its mission. So stay tuned come September though, for news of parachuting NASA scientists. And make sure never to enter into bets with expert jumpers.

Rumbling rumors out there regarding the overall status and health of the X Prize Cup - the rocket expo for personal spaceflight.

For months, lots of gossip filtering through my email about whether or not the X Prize Cup will be held this year.

The good news on this comes from Becky Ramsey, spokeswoman for the X Prize Cup: “Per our agreement with the NASA Centennial Challenges Program, we are planning to conduct a 2008 Lunar Lander Challenge,” Ramsey told me. “We are finalizing details right now, but we expect the Challenge to take place in New Mexico in the fall,” she explained to me this morning.

Still, loads of back chatter in my ear via the phone or at conferences - about where the overall X Prize Cup may wind up - or even if it is to be held this year. I’ve heard lots of talk about Florida being a new site for the Cup, even a whisper or two about Mojave, California…or if dollars are found, having the full Cup back in New Mexico, but tied to the construction of Spaceport America in that state.

So you pick.

My guess is that all will become clear in the weeks to come.

Now that there’s a new robot on Mars, it won’t be long before the false reports of life start to circulate the Internet again. In fact the folderol started today with this tantalizing headline on Drudge: “LIFE ON MARS?”

A question headline on a story with inconclusive findings is a great way to get readers to click. But in this case, it’s just a blatant trick, since there are no findings whatsoever. In fact, this robot isn’t even looking for life. (For the record, here’s the story it linked to.)

The Phoenix Mars Lander, which touched down in the polar region of the red planet Sunday, is not set up to find life. It is designed to look for conditions that might once have supported life (which means, basically, liquid water). Sorry if you were hoping for more, but NASA works in incremental ways.

Meantime, as the craft beams back new images of terrain we’ve never seen up close before, let me make a prediction: There will be a rock that looks like something resembling a life form [like, maybe, a woman? or a huge man's face? or maybe a bunny?] or at least a part from an alien spacecraft or other suspicious artifact. I could be wrong, but history tells us this is a pretty safe bet. And when it happens, don’t believe the related hooey about NASA covering it all up because they don’t want us knowing about the other civilizations out there. NASA has some talented and dedicated PR people, but nobody could keep a lid on that one.

A handful of people in Arizona, California and Colorado have unexpectedly died from rattlesnake bites, causing experts to wonder if the venom is becoming more toxic.

Victim go into shock after swelling in the mouth and throat. Some lose parts of their intestines when blood flow fails. In California, breathing trouble and low blood pressure are the key new symptoms.

Officials admit they have too few cases to draw conclusions. In fact it’s different types of rattlers in each state that are behind the mystery.

Steve Curry, director of medical toxicology at the Banner Poison Control Center in Phoenix, said the three to five cases he’s seen since 2002 are unlike anything he could recall in the two decades prior.

“This is a brand new phenomenon,” said Jeffrey Brent, clinical professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. “It should spur a considerable amount of research in the area.”

Brent also saw five of the extreme cases last year, and none in years prior.

The average person is far more likely to drown, be electrocuted or die in a plane crash than to die from a snake bite. At least that was true prior to the mysterious new situation.

Fear of snakes ought to prevent most bites, but in fact people who find snakes in their yards too often try to deal with the situations themselves. At least half of all reptile bites reported to the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center were provoked by the person who was bitten.

Human fear of snakes goes back forever, scientists figure. Even people who have never seen a snake tend to fear them, suggesting it’s an evolved, innate trait. One idea holds that early mammals had to find ways to avoid becoming snake food, and we humans descended from those creatures and retained the fear.

• How Snakes Swallow Huge Prey

NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has now been on the surface of Mars for over a day, and mission scientists have wasted no time in getting to work.

Phoenix’s science team at the University of Arizona went straight to work last night, as soon as the news came in that Phoenix had safely landed and had power from its solar arrays. They sent up a set of instructions for Phoenix to follow overnight, which the lander should carry out today. If everything goes according to plan, mission scientists should be hearing back from the spacecraft anytime now. The craft will likely send back more images of itself, so that scientists can make sure everything is working properly, and the Martian surface.

Now that mission control has switched over to the science team, the atmosphere at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is much more subdued today, as weary engineers go to get some rest after the excitement of Phoenix’s “picture perfect” landing.

“I’m going to sleep,” said JPL Phoenix project manager Barry Goldstein after this morning’s press briefing.

Live coverage of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has officially begun. So far NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s mission control looks fairly subdued, with just a few people milling about a talking to one another.

Mission controllers are wearing their Phoenix polo shirts, which are bright blue with the mission logo on the front, for the occasion.

Controllers have been working all night, said JPL Phoenix mission manager Barry Goldstein at a press briefing earlier today, adding they were tired, but excited for the big day.

Goldstein said he is starting to feel the butterflies himself, because he’s been working constantly up until the last communication with Phoenix this morning. But now that that’s done, “that means that means we have nothing to do but watch… and that means I’m a heck of a lot more tense today,” he told reporters.

Humans may not be able to travel to Mars yet, but we our names can.

The Planetary Society, co-founded by the legendary Carl Sagan, has assembled a list of 250,000 names on a DVD that is now attached to NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, set to touch down on the red planet later today.

The DVD, entitled “Visions of Mars,” also features images of Mars from both pop culture (for example, Marvin the Martian) and science, a collections of stories and other works about Mars, Orson Welles’ famous “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast, and greetings to future human explorers to Mars from several people, including Sagan.

Sagan cites the many reasons that the humans listening to him in the future might be there, from impending catastrophe, to simple curiosity, adding that whatever the reason is that they are there, “I wish I was with you.”

The DVD is intended as something of a time capsule from Earth on all things Mars related to let future generations of humans know how the red planet has inspired both science and science fiction. Stories from Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke are included on the disk to show the “dance” between science and science fiction, as Sagan says in his greeting on the disk.

The disk was originally strapped to Russia’s Mars ‘96 spacecraft, which failed shortly after launch. Planetary Society members updated the DVD for the Phoenix mission. They also sent disks with names up on the two Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which are still scuttling around the Martian surface.

If Phoenix makes it safely to the surface of Mars, it will use its stereo camera to image and check its systems. These pictures could show the disk attached to the craft. (The disk is made of a hardy silica glass and has been tested to withstand the vibrations of travel and entry, as well as weathering from wind-blown dust and sand on Mars.)

For those who want to catch a live showing of the Phoenix landing, The Planetary Society is also holding a series of events in cities around the country that will show the mission control live on a big screen. The main event, here in Pasadena (called Planetfest ‘08) that will include speakers such as Bill Nye the Science Guy, Ray Bradbury, and Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith. You can find a list of cities with events here.

Whether the Society’s disk will be recovered in a matter of decades or centuries is a matter of debate amongst Planetary Society members. One member is betting on the later, and says that he hopes it never comes back to Earth.

Tomorrow’s the big day, when NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander attempts to touch down after a nail-biting seven-minute descent through the atmosphere that has mission scientists on edge.

At a press conference at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory today, a few of those scientists described how they’re feeling with just over 24 hours until Phoenix enters Mars’ atmosphere.

“I’m really excited about being here,” JPL Phoenix mission manager Joe Guinn, adding, “I’m getting a real case of the heebie-jeebies now.”

Phoenix Project manager (also at JPL) Barry Goldstein said that he was starting to feel the nerves too, but that the meetings to plan for landing day, as well as lots of ice cream, are helping to keep the butterflies at bay.

Goldstein met with reporters during a tour of JPL mission control yesterday, which was nearly empty, except for a two or three engineers there just in case something went wrong. Tomorrow there, mission control will be packed with mission scientists, engineers, and a few VIPs.

With nerves likely to run high as the time for landing gets closer and closer, Goldstein will be using a long-time JPL nerve-killing tradition: passing out peanuts to the mission control crew.

The practice has apparently been in place since the Ranger missions to the moon. After the first few failed, those in mission control began to pop peanuts in an attempt to calm their nerves.

Phoenix will uphold this grand tradition, Goldstein said, adding, “I’ve already purchased the peanuts.”

So if you watch NASA TV tomorrow, look for peanuts making their way into the mouths of those in mission control.

After NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander makes it nerve-wracking descent through the Martian atmosphere on Sunday and hopefully makes a safe landing on the surface of the red planet, mission scientists will not only be waiting with bated breath for the first beeps of radio signals from the craft, but also the first images it will send.

I had the opportunity yesterday to tour the Multimission Image Processing Lab (MIPL, pronounced “mipple”) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will be responsible for processing those images and sending them to both the Phoenix science team at the University of Arizona and to the public.

MIPL is housed in one of the many buildings on the JPL campus in a modest space that looks like most other government office buildings built in the 1960’s and ’70s (the elevator doors are still coated with that classic burnt orange paint color). But while the building may belong to a different era of NASA, MIPL is on the cutting edge of image and video processing technology. Huge posters of satellite images of Earth hang on the walls, along with a 3-D image of a model of Phoenix.

MIPL scientists Eric De Jong took us through the lab to meet the people who create the images, and to explain a little about how the lab will handle the images from Phoenix.

MIPL can get images from spacecraft out moments after the signal reaches Earth. That’s exactly what they did for Mars Pathfinder, De Jong told reporters. De Jong made a deal with mission scientist Peter Smith that if De Jong could send out the images before Smith saw them, he could have them out within a minute of receiving the signal — and he did, he told us proudly (I’d be proud too). For most missions now, “the images go out to the public as they arrive,” De Jong said.

The first images from Phoenix could arrive as soon as 10 pm EDT on landing day. But because of the “bent-pipe” transmission relay from Phoenix to the three Mars orbiters, when exactly the images will arrive is up in the air. But De Jong says that MIPL intends to send out any images as soon as they get them.

Both NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ESA’s Mars Express will be keeping an eye on Phoenix as it plummets through the Martian atmosphere, perhaps even snapping some images of the craft’s orange and white striped parachute deployed. MIPL will process any images from MRO as well, which could also come out as soon as the night of the landing.

The team doesn’t just process images from the spacecraft, they also made the video animations that show what the Phoenix entry, descent and landing is supposed to be like. The team have also used satellite images and data to make 3-D videos of cloud cover on Earth, the Martian around the rover Spirit’s landing site and the roiling atmosphere of the Sun. Reporters were treated to a showing of these videos in the MIPL lab. Seeing a loop of solar material break free from the sun’s magnetic grip and pop out at you is pretty cool, I have to say.

Along the tour, we saw the room where scientists will be processing the images from Phoenix. And though it sat empty now, it will be buzzing with activity come Sunday.