Their joint project to drop the Phoenix lander onto the surface of Mars has gone successfully thus far.  Launched in August 2007, the lander is designed to study the Northern pole of the Red Planet, digging into the surface to gather ice samples and data regarding prospects of past ice and water floes.  It landed safely at about 7.53p EST, and only a quarter of a degree off level.

Pretty impressive, if you ask me.

The teams will be posting status updates and media from the lander to the official Phoenix project Website.

I decided on this domain name years ago in the basement of my mother’s home. We had recently hired a company to come in and install a better drainage system around the perimeter of the house and in the basement to tame any water that seeps in. The previous owners had a small stick sump pump and a small 2-inch deep trench going across the middle of the basement floor to carry off any water, a small fountain of ground water gurgling up on the western portion of the basement floor. Of course, the drainage is buried under the concrete now and since they installed new tubing they poured new concrete over the new installation, we had the opportunity to make a mark or what have you into the floor, as in a new sidewalk or path. I happened to write my name and age, with “btracer.com” on top.

So here we are, a Web site six years in the making.