Techotic

The Mars Phoenix Lander touched down in the far north of the Red Planet, which is about 423 million-mile from earth on May 25th.

The Lander is equipped with a robotic arm to dig for water-ice thought to be buried beneath the surface and it will begin examining the site for evidence of the building blocks of life in the next few days.

Ultimately The Mars Phoenix Lander will spend the next three months, sample alien soil and ice and look for conditions conducive for ancient microbial life.

The final seven minutes of the probe’s 10-month journey to Mars were regarded as the hardest part of the mission.

The probe had to survive a fiery plunge through the planet’s thin atmosphere, slowing from a speed of nearly 21,000km/h (13,000 mph).

It released a parachute, used pulsed thrusters to slow to a fast walking speed, and then descended the last few metres to the Martian soil to land on three legs.

The Nasa team monitored each stage of the descent and landing process through radio messages relayed to Earth via the Odyssey satellite in orbit around Mars.

“In my dreams, it couldn’t have gone as perfectly as it did tonight,” said Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project manager at JPL.

“The main goal of the mission is to get below the surface of Mars to where we are almost certain there is water,” he told BBC News.

He said orbiters flying around Mars had surveyed the landing site in great detail and found signs that water ice is buried 10cm or less below the surface.

“Water, of course, is of critical importance because it is one of the building blocks - one of the essential habitats we need - for life,” he said.

The animated CG video below shows the arrival, deployment of parachute, jettison its heat shield, thruster fire, landing, unfurling its solar panel, deploying its instruments, scooping and analysis by the Phoenix Lander.

[via bbc news]