The Mars Polar Lander, which blasted off on January 3, is more like a well-packed toolbox than a rocket ship. The 3 1/2-foot-tall craft has a shovel to dig for ice in the soil. It has a tiny microphone, the kind used in hearing aids, to pick up sounds. It carries a camera and has a 6 1/2-foot-long robot arm.
But its coolest gear of all: two cantaloupe-size probes that the lander will hurl to the planet's surface at 400 miles an hour. The probes may go as deep as 3 feet below Mars' surface to hunt for water. These probes have their own mission, called Deep Space 2.
The lander will have a long journey before it digs into the Red Planet. To make its target landing date of December 3, 1999, it must travel 470 million miles in 11 months. NASA scientists say it will be worth the trip if the mission finds water, a sign there may have been life on Mars.
"We have reason to believe there's water on Mars in the form of ice," says Ed Weiler, head of NASA's space-science division. "But until you actually find it, you can't say for sure."
To enter a contest to name the Deep Space 2 probes, go to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's website for kids: http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/spacepl.htm