The most ambitious effort yet to search for conditions that may have led to life on Mars...pretty exciting stuff!!!
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander lit up the predawn Florida sky Saturday, launching spaceward on a mission to determine whether the planet could have once supported primitive life.
A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket launched Phoenix towards Mars at 5:26:34 a.m. EDT (0926:34 GMT) from Pad 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The three-stage booster is bound for the flat northern plains of Vastitas Borealis near the martian north pole, where it is expected to dig into and sample the region's icy soil with its eight-foot (2.4-meter) robotic arm.
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Polar science
Researchers used imagery from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and other spacecraft to make sure Phoenix's landing site was relatively clear of rocks, steep slopes or other conditions that could pose a hazard to the spacecraft. The landing site is at latitude on Mars similar to that of northern Alaska or Iceland on Earth, mission managers said.
In addition to its backhoe-like robotic arm, Phoenix is equipped with a series of science tools to taste, sniff and peer at martian soil and ice. The probe won't hunt for evidence of life itself, but rather the conditions required in which microbes or other organisms could exist, mission scientists said.
"This is a stepping stone for future missions because the number one NASA goal is searching for life outside the Earth's boundaries inside the Solar System," said Peter Smith, Phoenix's principal investigator at the University of Arizona, during a prelaunch breifing. "And this is a step in that direction."
Tiny ovens and a wet chemistry laboratory mounted to Phoenix's upper surface, or deck, will scan soil and ice samples for signs of organic molecules and compounds - one ingredient useful for life - while cameras and microscopes image the samples. The probe also carries a laser ranging and detection (lidar) instruments and other tools mounted to a meteorology mast to study Mars weather.
But before Phoenix can study Mars, the probe must first reach the red planet, which has proven to be a challenge in the past. More than half of all Mars-bound missions have failed to date, NASA has said.
"As smart as we like to think we are, we're not clearly as smart as we need to be," Goldstein said before launch, calling Mars a spacecraft eater. "It really is a difficult job. No matter how many times we land successfully, it will never be routine."
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/070804_phoenix_launchday.html
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