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Phoenix lander set for May 25 touchdown on Mars: NASA
Washington (AFP) May 13, 2008 A US space probe sent to Mars to dig for signs of life is nearing the end of its nine-month voyage and should touch down on the Red Planet on schedule, NASA said Tuesday. The Phoenix Mars Lander, which blasted off from Cape Canaveral last August, is on course to reach the planet on May 25, where it will attempt to make a hazardous descent onto the Martian surface. "This is not a trip to grandma's house. Putting a spacecraft safely on Mars is hard and risky," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Internationally, fewer than half the attempts have succeeded." NASA have used high resolution images from a camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to help select a landing site for the Phoenix. The lander's assignment is to dig through the Martian soil and ice in the arctic region and use its onboard scientific instruments to analyze the samples it retrieves. Phoenix is likely to face Martian temperatures that range from minus 73 degrees Celsius (minus 99 degrees Fahrenheit) to minus 33 C (minus 27 F). Once it lands, the probe will deploy a set of research tools never before used on the planet. The solar-powered craft is equipped with a 2.35 meter (7.5 foot) robotic arm that will enter vertically into the soil, aiming to strike the icy crust that is believed to lie within a few inches of the surface. The Phoenix's robotic arm will lift soil samples to two instruments on its deck. One instrument will check for water and carbon-based chemicals, considered essential building blocks for life, while the other will analyze the soil chemistry. Many scientists see signs of ancient rivers and oceans on the arid and sterile surface of Mars, and believe the planet may once have harbored some forms of life. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Phoenix Landing Area Viewed By Mars Color Imager
Pasadena CA (SPX) May 13, 2008NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled to land on the Martian northern plains near 68 degrees north latitude, 127 degrees west longitude on May 25, 2008. In preparation for the landing, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been monitoring weather in the region around the landing site. On April 20, 2008, the orbiter's Mars Color Imager camera captured this view of a large region of northern Mars that includes the landing target area in the lower right quadrant. |
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