Phoenix Mars Mission en route to Martian North Polar region

`
NASA Spacecraft Heads for Polar Region on Mars

Phoenix will be the first mission to touch water-ice on Mars. Its robotic arm will dig to an icy layer believed to lie just beneath the surface. The mission will study the history of the water in the ice, monitor weather of the polar region, and investigate whether the subsurface environment in the far-northern plains of Mars has ever been favorable for sustaining microbial life.


More info:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html

Phoenix lander during assembly:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/180289main_PIA01885.jpg

Landing site:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/183669main_ra1-global-hires.jpg

This baby's landing "old school" style like the Viking jobbies back in the '70s - rocket engines firing on descent, so let's hope all the I's were dotted & T's were crossed in the lab, so she don't go splat !

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

Kudos to NASA for doing a bit of "recycling", too...
Phoenix uses the main body of a lander originally made for a 2001 mission that was cancelled before launch.

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

I bet they find life and then cover it up. All goverments do it, in engalnd once SAS were sent to a crash site then they said it was'n't true,

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Crash site of what?
When and where?
Source?

The job of the SAS is not to investigate crashes of anything.
Someone's been pulling your leg.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

nice mission but yust to make sure it's going to land on permafrost not on ice right?

 

it better land on ice, so that we know if there are bacteria living in there.

 

Chances of it sending back pictures which kooks will interpret as solid proof of martian civilisation: 1 in 1.

 

I wonder if the thing has separated already

 

The following sounds as though it's intended to land on a soil surface rather than on the ice cap itself...

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/present/phoenix.html
In the continuing pursuit of water on Mars, the poles are a good place to probe, as water ice is found there. Phoenix will land on the icy northern pole of Mars between 65 and 75-north latitude. During the course of the 150 Martian day mission, Phoenix will deploy its robotic arm and dig trenches up to half a meter (1.6 feet) into the layers of water ice. These layers, thought to be affected by seasonal climate changes, could contain organic compounds that are necessary for life.

Presumably, what is now zipping thru the proverbial Void is now this configuration:
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=91&cID=1

Consisting of the lander in it's aeroshell/heat shield capsule , and a solar panel array to provide power during the trip to Mars.

 

It's illogical.

NASA is sending time money and resources on this dead planet.
On the other end we're due to retire the Space Shuttle (perhaps even before the ISS is complete) and we have not appropriate replacement.

Meanwhile the planned replace will regress of spacefarers back thirty years! We have technology like SCRAM AND RAM JET technology along with inspiring programs like SPACE SHIP ONE...and this is the best in the field can come up with...

WHAT FOLLY!