NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander monitors the atmosphere overhead and reaches out to the soil below in this artist's depiction of the spacecraft fully deployed on the surface of Mars.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/UA/Lockheed Martin

Enthusiastic cheers erupted throughout the standing room-only crowd gathered in the Exploration Center at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., as NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft successfully landed on Mars May 25, 2008, completing a 422-million mile flight from Earth that began when Phoenix launched on Aug. 4, 2007. The mission’s success was due in no small part to significant science and engineering contributions provided by a dedicated cadre of scientists and engineers at NASA Ames.

Aptly named for the mythological bird that arose from its own ashes taking on a new form after being destroyed by fire, the Phoenix mission is the first in NASA’s Mars Scout Program. The program’s goal is to complement the major missions of the Mars Exploration Program with small, low cost missions. The Phoenix lander and heat shield were inherited from the 2001 Mars Surveyor Program and most of the scientific instruments are updated versions of those flown on the lost 1999 Mars Polar Lander.

During the next three months, Phoenix mission scientists will continue to explore the northern polar region of Mars to determine if frozen water exists beneath the surface of the Red Planet. If they succeed in finding water, not only will they have achieved their goal of “Following the water,” they will have a better understanding of the current and past potential habitability of life on Mars.



Deborah Robin Croft
NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-6787
Deborah.R.Croft@nasa.gov

Rachel Prucey
NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-0643
Rachel.L.Prucey@nasa.gov