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Unidentified Phoenix Mars Lander scientists celebrate after the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft landed successfully in the first-ever touchdown near Mars' north pole.

Phoenix Mars Lander scientists celebrate after the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft landed successfully in the first-ever touchdown near Mars' north pole at the mission control room of the Jet Propulsion lab in Pasadena, California May 25, 2008. The scientists are (L-R) Barry Goldstein, JPL project manager for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, Ed Sedivy, Phoenix spacecraft manager, Lockheed Martin, Phoenix principal investigator, Peter Smith (white hair) of the University of Arizona and Fuk Li, manager, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars Exploration Program. [Agencies]

NASA Mars Phoenix Landing Area Viewed by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Color Imager

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled to land on the Martian northern plains near 68 degrees north latitude, 127 degrees west longitude on May 25, 2008. In preparation for the landing, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been monitoring weather in the region around the landing site. On April 20, 2008, the orbiter's Mars Color Imager camera captured this view of a large region of northern Mars that includes the landing target area in the lower right quadrant.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander: Exploring the arctic plains of Mars

Photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, this picture shows the Phoenix Mars Lander on its final descent on to the red planet. This image has been brightened to show the landscape of Mars in the background. This is one of the first images broadcast from the Phoenix after landing on the surface of Mars. It shows the tiny pebbles and polygonal cracking of the Martian landscape. The same image is seen here, brightened to Earth day standards. This black and white image shows a region of polygonal cracking in the Martian ground. This cracking occurs in a similar fashion in the icy ground of the Arctic regions of Earth. Here the image is converted to full colour, showing red Martian ‘soil’. The Phoenix lander photographs its own footpad to check stability.

Mars Polar Lander - Space Probe, USA

The Mars Surveyor '98 Programme was comprised of two spacecraft launched separately: the Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter) launched in 1996, and the Mars Polar Lander (formerly the Mars Surveyor '98 Lander).

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Relays Second-Day Information From NASA Mars Lander

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully received information from the Phoenix Mars Lander Tuesday evening and relayed the information to Earth. The relayed transmission included images and other data collected by Phoenix during the mission's second day after landing on Mars.

Visions of Mars Goes to Mars

Louis Friedman, the executive director of The Planetary Society; project director and editor-in-chief for Visions of Mars,Jon Lomberg; and Bruce Betts, director of projects for The Planetary Society show off the DVD that is carrying the thoughts and words of Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke as well as the names of 250,000 other Earthlings. Phoenix will deposit the Visions of Mars DVD on Mars when it lands. Credit: The Planetary Society / A.J.S. Rayl

Huge Impact Created Mars' Split PersonalityStudy: Mars Had Drizzle and DewAstronomers on Verge of Finding Earth's TwinPhoenix Lander Prepares to Taste Martian DirtBlack Holes All Eat the Same Way

This artistic representation of a giant impact on Mars was created from simulations by Marinova et al. (Nature, 2008). Mars is shown using a combination of Viking color images and shaded relief from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Credit: Jeff Andrews-Hanna

Mars 24 Sunclock Upgrade Released

Mars24 is a Java program which displays a Mars sunclock, a graphical representation of the planet Mars showing its current sun- and nightsides, along with a numerical readout of the time in 24-hour format. Other displays include a plot showing the relative orbital positions of Mars and Earth and a diagram showing the solar angle for a given location on Mars.

Spacecraft makes historic Mars landing

Phoenix Mars Lander principal investigator Peter Smith (L) of the University of Arizona and JPL project manager for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Barry Goldstein smile, as animation video of the Phoenix Mars Lander landing is shown, during a media briefing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California May 25, 2008, after the spacecraft landed safely on Mars near its north pole. [Agencies]

Help Find the Mars Polar Lander

NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander is just a few weeks away from landing on the surface of Mars. NASA really hopes that this spacecraft doesn't fallow in the doomed path of the previous Mars Polar Lander. What happened to the Mars Polar Lander? Nobody knows. NASA assumes it's smashed up somewhere on the surface of the Red Planet. Now you can help search for it, by looking through high resolution images of the potential crash site.

Picture This: Spacecraft Camera Captures Images of Mars with Optical Glass Standards

image of Mars captured by Phoenix Mars Lander The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s latest mission, the Phoenix Mars Lander, is drawing attention worldwide for the remarkable photographs and data that it has collected ever since its successful landing on in the polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008.

Phoenix gears up to begin Mars dig

A photo taken from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captur... Scientists celebrate after the Phoenix Mars spacecraft la... Two Phoenix Mars Lander scientists celebrate after the sp... One of the first images from the Phoenix Mars Lander show... More...

Podcast: Missions to Mars, Part 1

With last month's safe arrival of the Phoenix Mars Lander, Mars enthusiasts breathed a collective sigh of relief… phew. Now it's time to search for evidence of organic molecules in the ice at Mars' north pole. But this is just the latest in a long series of missions sent to the Red Planet. Let's have a history lesson, and look back at the missions sent to Mars, successful and unsuccessful.

Phoenix probe sends 1st pictures from Mars' north pole

One of the first color images from the Phoenix Mars Lander shows the surface of Mars after the Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft landed successfully in the first-ever touchdown near Mars' north pole May 25, 2008.

Probe to make perilous landing on Mars:

An artist's concept shows NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander just before its planned touchdown on Mars.An artist's concept shows NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander just before its planned touchdown on Mars.

UPDATE: Comms Glitch Delays Mars Phoenix Digging

UPDATE (6:15 PM): For the second time, a communications glitch between spacecraft orbiting Mars and the Phoenix Mars Lander sitting on the surface has slowed down the Mars mission. The satellite Odyssey, the AP reports, failed to relay a signal to the Lander to start digging after high-energy space particles essentially crashed the craft's OS. NASA scientists will now start relaying signals through the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which had its own glitch last month. But the good news is that the Lander is fine and digging will commence tomorrow.

NASA probe confirms ice on Mars

NASA scientists say photos sent from Mars by the Phoenix Lander confirm ice on the red planet. The presence of water is crucial for research because it helps answer questions on whether life forms, perhaps microbes, exist or existed on Mars. Phoenix dug a trench near Mars' north pole and a sequence of photos shows eight white chucks slowly vanishing. Over the next few weeks Phoenix will analyse the Martian soil and look for organic material. In 2002 another unmanned craft, the Mars Odyssey Orbiter first detected what's thought to be a vast sheet of ice under the barren polar surface.

HiRISE Does It Again; Captures Phoenix On Mars' Surface

The HiRISE Camera Imaging Team for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter keeps outdoing themselves. First, they imaged Mars' surface in such fine detail to help choose a safe yet interesting landing site for Phoenix. Then they beat the odds and actually captured Phoenix during its descent to Mars surface, which is completely incredible. And now, in very short order they've located and imaged Phoenix and all its accoutrements sitting on Mars north polar region. The parachute (lower left) is easy to identify because it is especially bright and the backshell is still attached to the parachute cords. The double dark marking at right is consistent with disturbance of the ground from impact and bouncing of the heat shield, which fell from a height of about 10 kilometers.

Learning to Breathe Mars Air (Video)

Talk about dedication! Volunteers in Russia are testing the ability of humans to breathe argon-enriched air, as part of a research program that simulates a manned trip to Mars. Researchers want to know if humans can survive breathing air similar to that found on Mars. Of the experiment one Russian scientist said, "Our experiments show that argon combined with the right portion of oxygen is safe for humans. I tested it on myself and I'm OK, and volunteers are also doing fine." Somehow, I'm not convinced about the rationale and safety of this test. This is preliminary research for the Russian Mars 500 project, which will simulate a manned Mars mission next year.

MARS MISSION: The Search for Life / Touchdown! Phoenix safe on Mars as cheers erupt

MARS MISSION: The Search for Life / Touchdown! Phoenix safe on Mars as cheers erupt / In minutes, it decelerates from 12,700 mph to 5, lands smoothly

Mars Phoenix to try shake-and-bake once more

Mars, Phoenix, Mars Phoenix, Phoenix lander, Mars lander, NASA, JPL, Martian soil, Thermal Evolved-Gas Analyzer, University of Arizona

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander a moment before its planned touchdown on the arctic plains of Mars.

This artist's conception shows NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander as it monitors the atmosphere overhead with a laser radar and reaches out to the soil below with the spacecraft fully deployed on the surface of Mars. [Agencies]

Mars Cold Goes Down Deep

Mars Life Summary (May 23, 2008): New observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that the crust and upper mantle of Mars is stiffer and colder than previously thought. The data could have implications for the search for life in the martian subsurface.

Mars Is REALLY Cold

We knew Mars was cold, but new observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that the crust and upper mantle of Mars are stiffer and colder than previously thought. And scientists say any liquid water that might exist below the planet's surface, and any possible organisms living in that water, would be found deeper than anyone suspected.

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