High Drama

Posted May 26, 2008, 7:47 am in Space by Growing Bolder


The Phoenix has landed. The first spacecraft designed to acquire the water of an alien planet landed safely on Mars' northern pole Sunday evening, beginning a three-month mission to determine whether the Red Planet ever did, or still might, support life.

It's the first "soft landing" on Mars in 32 years, and only the 3rd in history. The hazardous landing at 7:53 p.m. EST, successfully ended a 296-day, 422-million-mile journey. Dubbed "7 minutes of terror", the landing was on the planet's far north pole and was accomplished with all its scientific systems apparently intact.

Phoenix plunged into the thin Martian atmosphere traveling at more than 12,000 mph. Over the next seven minutes, friction - which raised the temperature on the heat shield to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit - slowed it enough to deploy the parachute. About half a mile from the surface, and with only seconds remaining before touching down, 12 small rocket thrusters fired to slow the lander's descent speed to 5 mph.

Phoenix has already sent back photos and video of the landing site. Phoenix is built to stay in one place and use its robotic arm to dig into the soil and ice. The vehicle is equipped with several miniature chemistry labs to analyze the material it digs up. Scientists hope to establish whether carbon-based elements are present on this planet, and whether the ice ever melts here, in response to long-term climate cycles, which would create the premises for life on Mars.

Photo Courtesy: NASA




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