The Phoenix project – what did it find on Mars?

• Phoenix was a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program.

• The Phoenix lander descended on Mars on May 25, 2008.

• Mission scientists used instruments aboard the lander to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars, and to research the history of water there.

• The total mission cost was estimated to be about US $ 386 million, which includes cost of the launch.

History of the programWhile the proposal for Phoenix was being written, the 

Mars Odyssey Orbiter used its gamma ray spectrometer and found the distinctive signature of hydrogen on some areas of the Martian surface, and the only plausible source of hydrogen on Mars would be water in the form of ice, frozen below the surface.

The mission was therefore funded on the expectation that Phoenix would find water ice on the arctic plains of Mars.

In August 2003 NASA selected the University of Arizona "Phoenix" mission for launch in 2007

Peter H. Smith of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, as Principal Investigator, along with 24 Co-Investigators, were selected to lead the mission. The mission was named after the Phoenix, a mythological bird that is repeatedly reborn from its own ashes. The Phoenix spacecraft contains several previously built components.

Phoenix Mars mission

Operator: NASAMajor contractors: Lockheed Martin Space SystemsMission type: LanderLaunch date: August 4, 2007(09:26 UTC)Launch vehicle: Delta II 7925Launch site: Launch Complex 17, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,

Florida, United States Landing: May 25, 2008 23:53 UTCLanding site: Green Valley (Mars), 68.22°N 125.7°WMass: 350 kg (770 lb.)Power: Solar array / NiH2 battery

Result of the missionThe solar-powered lander operated two months longer than its three-month prime mission and the successful end of its primary mission was on August 2008.• Ice is present a few inches below the surface in the middle of the

polygons, and along its edges, the ice is at least 8 inches deep. When the ice is exposed to the Martian atmosphere it slowly sublimates.

• Snow was observed to fall from cirrus clouds. • Finding calcium carbonate in the Martian soil leads scientists to

believe that the site had been wet or damp in the geological past. Perchlorate makes up a few tenths of a percent of the soil samples. Perchlorate is used as food by some bacteria on Earth.

• after the mission ended, they reported that chloride, bicarbonate, magnesium, sodium potassium, calcium, and possibly sulfate were all detected in the planet.