Nasa Spacecraft, Phoenix Successfully Landed on Mars
The 7-foot-tall, 904-pound Mars Phoenix lander safely touched down late on Sunday GMT at Red Planet, Mars after a 680-million-km (423-million-mile) journey from Earth. In all, six of 11 similar attempts by the United States, Russia and England ended in failure, so the Phoenix team waited with lots of apprehension about the outcome of the spacecraft’s approach and landing.
The probe is equipped with a robotic arm to dig for water-ice thought to be buried beneath the surface. Like the Viking lander, Phoenix is designed to look for organic material and other signs that life has existed on Mars, or could exist on the planet. Unlike the two rovers that have been exploring the Martian surface for nearly five years, 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.
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, then descended the last few metres to the Martian soil to land on three legs.
If all goes to plan, the spacecraft will open its solar arrays and begin powering the battery for the three-month science mission.
“The main goal of the mission is to get below the surface of Mars to where we are almost certain there is water,” says Dr Tom Pike of Imperial College, London, part of the British team involved in the project.
Over the next few days scientists will study the probe’s surroundings and conduct a full health check on the lander and its payload of scientific instruments.
The probe was launched on 4 August 2007 on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Source: Washington Post
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