Phoenix (spacecraft)

Phoenix is a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission to Mars. The scientists conducting the mission will use instruments aboard the Phoenix lander to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars, and to research the history of water there. Phoenix launched successfully on August 4, 2007, and is scheduled to land on Mars on May 25, 2008. The multi-agency program is headed by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, under the direction of NASA. The program is a partnership of universities from the US, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark and Germany, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the aerospace industry. Phoenix is planned to land in the planet's water-ice-rich northern polar region and, if this is successful, will use its robotic arm to dig into the arctic terrain.

HISTORY

In August 2003 NASA selected the University of Arizona "Phoenix" mission for launch in 2007 as what is hoped will be the first in a new line of smaller, low-cost, "Scout" missions in the agency's exploration of Mars program.[3] The selection was the result of an intense two-year competition with proposals from other institutions. The $325 million NASA award is more than six times larger than any other single research grant in University of Arizona history.

Peter H. Smith of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, was selected to lead the mission as Principal Investigator. The mission was named after the Phoenix, a mythological bird that is repeatedly reborn from its own ashes. Like the mythic bird, the Phoenix spacecraft contains several previously built components. The lander used for the 2007 mission is the modified Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander (cancelled in 2000), along with several of the instruments from both that and the previous polar lander mission. Lockheed Martin had kept the nearly-complete lander in environmentally-controlled storage since 2001.

Phoenix during testing in September 2006Phoenix is a partnership of universities, NASA centers, and the aerospace industry. The science instruments and operations will be a University of Arizona responsibility. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, will manage the project and provide mission design and control. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colorado, built and tested the spacecraft. The Canadian Space Agency will provide a meteorological station, including an innovative Laser-based atmospheric sensor. The co-investigator institutions include Malin Space Science Systems (California), Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany), NASA Ames Research Center (California), NASA Johnson Space Center (Texas), Optech Incorporated, SETI Institute, Texas A&M University, Tufts University, University of Colorado, University of Michigan, University of Neuchвtel (Switzerland), University of Texas at Dallas, University of Washington, Washington University in St. Louis, and York University (Canada).

On June 2, 2005, following a critical review of the project's planning progress and preliminary design, NASA approved the mission to proceed as planned. The purpose of the review was to confirm NASA's confidence in the mission.

The lander will land the same way the Viking program landers did, slowed primarily by landing rockets. In 2007, a report was filed to the American Astronomical Society