Phoenix Successfully Lands On Mars

At this point NASA has one minute of data and is waiting to receive the solar rays.

NASA says the first pictures will arrive in about one and a half hour from the landing. Phoenix did not land an a rocky place, but on a flat surface.

This is a huge relief for the scientists after five years of hard work and they never knew for sure, but they had the best team in the world to support this mission from all over the world.

As Phoenix Mars Explorer was getting closer to the landing you could see on NASA live TV how the scientists and the mission controllers were cheering and applauding every single successful step of Phoenix Mars Explorer activity.

The Phoenix Mars Mission has a collaborative approach to space exploration. As the very first of NASA's Mars Scout class, Phoenix combines legacy and innovation in a framework of a true partnership: government, academia, and industry. Scout class missions are led by a scientist, known as a Principal Investigator (PI). Peter Smith of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory serves as Phoenix's PI and is responsible for all aspects of the mission.

The Phoenix Mission uses the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander, built in 2000, but later administratively mothballed. The '01 lander is undergoing modifications to improve the spacecraft's robustness and safety during entry, descent, and landing. Phoenix recovers two instruments delivered for the '01 lander that have been in protected storage: the MARDI and the MECA. Also, the RA has been modified from the '01 lander version.

If you are in the area The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory invites you to celebrate the landing of the Phoenix Mission to Mars. Enjoy children's activities, solar viewing and commentary of the live NASA/JPL feed of the descent and landing by scientists and engineers. Activities will be held in the Kuiper Space Sciences Building, the Sonett Space Sciences Building, on the UA Mall and in Flandrau: The UA Science Center.

Earlier the University of Arizona had reported NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander sped on Sunday morning toward its arrival at Mars, as the tug of the Red Planet's gravity accelerated the craft during the final day of its trip from Earth to Mars.

"Mars is literally pulling on our spacecraft, and at the same time it is pulling on our emotions," Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith, of The University of Arizona, said. "We are excited at how close we are right now to beginning our study of a site where Martian water ice will be within our reach, after all these years of preparations. Our science mission begins as the spacecraft settles into its new home on Mars."

The spacecraft's speed relative to Mars increased from 6,300 miles per hour at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time to 8,500 mph at 12:30 p.m., headed for a speed higher than 12,000 mph before reaching the top of the Martian atmosphere.

Phoenix was on track for anticipated entry into the atmosphere at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time and reaching the surface at 4:38 p.m., although confirmation of those events comes no sooner than 15 minutes and 20 seconds later due to the time needed for radio signals to travel from Mars to Earth.

Mission controllers decided Saturday night and Sunday morning to forgo the last two opportunities for adjusting the spacecraft's trajectory.

"We are so well on course that those adjustments were not necessary," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif.

The most challenging part of the entire mission, getting from the top of the atmosphere to a safe landing on three legs, still lies ahead. Internationally, only five of the 11 attempts to land a spacecraft on Mars have succeeded.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith, with project management at JPL. The development partnership is with Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions are from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; the Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

For more about the Phoenix mission on the Web, visit: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.