NASA Spacecraft Lands on Mars

May 25, 2008 —NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars on Saturday, to begin three months of examining the landing site for frozen water within reach of the lander's robotic arm. Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time confirmed the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. The signals took that long to travel from Mars to Earth at the speed of light. Mission team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver; and the University of Arizona, Tucson, cheered confirmation of the landing and eagerly awaited further information from Phoenix later Sunday night. Among those in the JPL control room was NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who noted this was the first successful Mars landing without airbags since Viking 2 in 1976. "For the first time in 32 years, and only the third time in history, a JPL team has carried out a soft landing on Mars," Griffin said. "I couldn't be happier to be here to witness this incredible achievement." During its 422-million-mile flight from Earth to Mars after launching on Aug. 4, 2007, Phoenix relied on electricity from solar panels during the spacecraft's cruise stage. The cruise stage was jettisoned seven minutes before the lander, encased in a protective shell, entered the Martian atmosphere. Batteries provided electricity until the lander's own pair of solar arrays spread open. Another critical deployment will be the first use of the 7.7-foot-long robotic arm on Phoenix, which will not be attempted for at least two days. Researchers will use the arm during future weeks to get samples of soil and ice into laboratory instruments on the lander deck. Mars surface colder than thought New observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that the crust and upper mantle of Mars are stiffer and colder than previously thought. The findings suggest any liquid water that might exist below the planet's surface and any possible organisms living in that water, would be located deeper than scientists had suspected. "We found that the rocky surface of Mars is not bending under the load of the north polar ice cap," said Roger Phillips of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "This implies that the planet's interior is more rigid, and thus colder, than we thought before." The discovery was made using the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument on the Orbiter, which has provided the most detailed pictures to date of the interior layers of ice, sand and dust that make up the north polar cap on Mars. The radar images reveal long, continuous layers stretching up to 600 miles or about one-fifth the length of the United States.

Phoenix’s footpad on the Mars surface. Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona Phoenix sent back a picture of the Martian surface. Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona An artist’s concept of the Phoenix spacecraft on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

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