Phoenix at the northern plains

Phoenix · 2008 CE · Mars

Phoenix at the northern plains — Phoenix · 2008 CE · Mars — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Dig into the arctic ground of Mars and find out whether there is ice in it.

Historical context

Orbital instruments had reported hydrogen just under the surface at high northern latitudes, which almost certainly meant ice. Phoenix was assembled from the spare parts of two cancelled missions and sent to dig for it. It found the ice in its first weeks, and then found the perchlorate salts that may explain why Viking saw no organic molecules.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Down on rockets

    25 May 2008

    On 25 May 2008 the lander came down on thrusters rather than airbags, the first controlled rocket landing on Mars since Viking.

  2. Ground cracked in polygons

    2008 CE

    The lander stood on a plain divided into shallow polygons a few metres across, the pattern that ice makes as it freezes and thaws.

  3. Dodo-Goldilocks

    2008 CE

    The arm scraped a trench down to a hard white layer. Eight bright crumbs at the bottom had gone four sols later.

  4. Salt in the oven

    2008 CE

    The wet chemistry laboratory dissolved a pinch of soil and found perchlorate salts, and a soil slightly alkaline rather than acid.

  5. Snow from a Martian cloud

    2008 CE

    A laser sounder pointed upward caught ice crystals falling out of clouds four kilometres above the lander.

  6. The polar sun goes down

    2 November 2008

    As autumn came the sun sank towards the horizon, the power fell away, and on 2 November 2008 the lander sent its last signal.

Outcome

Water ice touched and identified, perchlorate salts measured and snow seen falling.

Phoenix

Polar lander that touched down in Vastitas Borealis in May 2008 and was the first to touch and identify water ice on Mars.

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Sources

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