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Phoenix Mars Lander Set for Touch Down
By Nick on May 23, 2008
May 25th, 2008, marks the arrival of the Phoenix Mars Lander on the icy northern plains of Vastitas Borealis. Phoenix has been flying through space at almost 13,000 mph since August 4th, 2007, and is on a mission to uncover the secrets that lie beneath Mars’ frozen surface. Of course, this probe’s destination requires us to leave the comfortable surroundings of Google Earth, and take our own trip into Outer Space with Google Sky.
Phoenix has two missions. First, it hopes to enable scientists to study the geological history of Martian water. This is supposed to provide us with magical solutions to global warming and climate change. The second mission is to search for a habitable zone, that is, somewhere with conditions suitable for life.
For $325 million, you would expect some fairly significant results from this little trip to Mars. While neither are likely, the potential for finding a cure for global warming and even proof of extraterrestrial life makes this mission one to watch. Incidentally, you can watch it on SPACE.com’s NASA TV feed!
Find out more about the Phoenix Mars Lander:
- Arctic Plains of Mars Await Robot’s Sunday Landing
- Phoenix on Wikipedia
- Phoenix Mars Mission
- Coverage of Landing
Posted in Space | 3 Comments
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3 Responses to “Phoenix Mars Lander Set for Touch Down”
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Mark Ramsay, globetrotting from an armchair in England.
8:46 pm on May 23rd, 2008
Excellent blog, you do come up with some interesting stories. Just think all of those space stories of little green men are about to come true. We will finally see all these spaceships the public keeping going on about, roll on to the mars lander hooray for NASA.
10:54 pm on May 23rd, 2008
Cheers Mark. If you get the chance, take a look at the NASA TV feed. Last time I looked, they were interviewing an astronaut as he hurtled through space. Really quite fascinating!
2:36 am on May 26th, 2008
Well, it’s landed! Here’s a BBC article about the landing.