[hattend]

I had read something about the landing occurring right before “earthset” as well. The orbiters were going to relay.

Now I wish I could find that...

[tennmountainman]

Maybe that is the reason, the news conference did not mention
a direct link with earth. The Earth will be setting and the rover will be in a deep crater, blocking a direct link with earth. Thus, using Odyessy as a relay link.

[tennmountainman]

ustream.com taped the News Conference. It’s about an hour long and is a great “pump-up” before landing. It was this morning. But can still watch the replay.

[JRandomFreeper]

It may be that the timing has changed since the articles were written. I'm seeing the earth sub-point about 2 hours from overhead of the landing site right now.

07:40 LMST, solar elevation 33.7, still 13 minutes 47 seconds light speed delay between Mars and Earth at the site.

But what do I know, I'm just a cook. ;)

/johnny