SPACE NEWS
May 28, 2008
Phoenix Has Landed!
A NASA craft touches down on Mars and sends dazzling images back to Earth
On May 25, a NASA robotic craft plunged through the Martian atmosphere and landed safely on the red planet. The Mars Phoenix Lander left Earth on August 4, 2007. It traveled 422 million miles before arriving in the northern polar region of Mars. Its mission: to dig into the Martian frozen soil, grab some ice and determine whether life is possible on the planet.
 |  NASA/JPL Shortly after landing, Phoenix took this image of the rocky Martian surface. |
Hours after the Phoenix's arrival on Mars, the craft sent back the first-ever glimpse of the planet's northern plains. Images revealed a landscape similar to Earth's arctic regions. Scientists viewed geometric patterns in the Martian soil, which are likely related to the freezing and thawing of ground ice.
A Scientist's DreamMars is a cold desert planet. But scientists believe that it was once a wet planet, filled with lakes and rivers. The planet's low gravity and thin atmosphere caused most of the water to escape into space.
A previous NASA mission, the Mars Odyssey Orbiter in 2002, showed large amounts of water-ice below the surface in the planet's polar regions. New images of the Phoenix landing site show the presence of cracks. "I know it looks like a parking lot," says principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona. "But there's ice under that surface. This is a scientist's dream."
Looking for LifePhoenix joins two NASA rovers on the Martian surface. The rovers have been exploring the planet's equatorial plains since 2004. But unlike the mobile rovers, Phoenix will stay in one place as it searches for frozen water. The craft will extend a 7.7-foot-long robotic arm equipped with a scoop. The scoop's pronglike tines are designed to crunch into the tough polar surface and grab a sample of soil and water-ice. The arm will then bring the sample to the craft's lab where instruments will analyze it.
Scientists hope the findings will help them understand the history of the Martian arctic and determine whether its soil could support life. All known life forms need liquid water in order to survive. "The polar region is a great preserver," says Smith. "Just as in your kitchen you preserve your food in the freezer, so the planet preserves organic materials and the history of life inside of the ice."
Rising from the AshesThe NASA craft is named after a mythical bird. According to ancient Greek legend, one phoenix lives for 500 years. At its death, the bird bursts into flames and a new bird is born from its ashes.
The Phoenix mission also represents a rebirth. In 1999, another NASA craft, the Mars Polar Lander, crashed near the planet's south pole. NASA had planned to follow that mission with the Mars Surveyor in 2001, but the crash forced NASA to put the project on hold. After NASA fixed some design flaws, Surveyor was reborn as the Phoenix Lander. The agency spent $100 million on Surveyor and another $420 million on Phoenix. NASA says that the spacecraft will study the Martian surface for the next three months.
