Phoenix Mars Lander Beams Back First Images

Congratulations NASA!


http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix...hp?fileID=6206
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/phoen...526/9117-S.mov


http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ph...ges/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ph...dia/index.html


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exer...ACEC964000.htm
NASA probe sends Mars pictures

The spacecraft is now sending pictures of the
Martian surface [AFP]
Phoenix Mars, a National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA)
spacecraft, has landed on the northern polar region of the planet
Mars.

It will now begin 90 days of digging to look for the existence of
water on the planet.

The US space agency said the probe sent a radio signal indicating it
had reached the planet's surface early on Monday after an almost
10-month, 711 million-kilometre journey....

The landing on Monday signalled a triumph for Nasa, which has not had
a successful powered landing since the twin Viking landers in 1976.

The last time Nasa tried was in 1999 when the Mars Polar lander
suffered engine failure and crashed into the south pole.

Phoenix joins two other spacecraft on Mars' surface: the planetary
rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which landed in 2004 and have been
exploring opposite sides of the planet's plains.

Unlike the twin rovers, Phoenix is designed to stay in one spot and
extend its long robotic arm to dig trenches in the soil.

It has an onboard laboratory to heat the soil and analyse the vapours
for traces of organic compounds, an essential ingredient for life.

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Its mission is to discover whether chemical ingredients of life are
preserved in the icy soil.

Phoenix carries 59kg of scientific instruments to assess whether ice
just below the surface ever thaws and whether it has the building
blocks of life.

For three months these instruments will taste and sniff the northern
polar site's soil and ice until the Martian winter turns the
permafrost back into ice and freezes the craft.

The $438 million probe entered the Martian atmosphere at 20,400km/h
before seven minutes of braking allowed it to land at Vastitas
Borealis.

Before the Phoenix landing, only five of the 11 bids to land a craft
on Mars have succeeded.



http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9951860-7.html

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...2wSHxbbFtfE5Jg
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/science/...k_first_i.html