NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

On May 25, 2008 NASA Ames will open its Exploration Center for a fun event with robotic demonstrations and interesting pre-landing remarks from NASA Ames’ scientists and engineers to celebrate the touchdown of the NASA Phoenix Mars Lander. The Phoenix Mars mission , that launched on Aug. 4, 2007, will study the history of water in the ice-rich soil of the Martian arctic and search for evidence of a habitable zone to help NASA prepare for human exploration. Phoenix will attempt to determine whether there was ever life on Mars and characterize its climate and geology.

The Ames Exploration Center will be open from noon to 5:30 p.m. PDT. Admission is free. Robotic and software demonstrations will take place during the day. Starting at 2:45 p.m. PDT, there will be pre-landing presentations by Phoenix Lander experts followed by the live feed from mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Phoenix is scheduled to touch down on Mars’ arctic northern plains at 4:36 p.m. PDT. For those interested in watching from home, tune in to NASA Television, at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.


Members of the media wanting more information can contact: Robin Croft (Science) 650 604-6787
Rachel Prucey (Exploration) 650 604-0643