(05-13) 20:16 PDT -- Defying the odds, a Mars-bound spacecraft named Phoenix is headed toward a landing this month on the planet's icy north polar surface to search for evidence that liquid water and chemicals crucial for life existed there long,...

The space probe hailed as the "next step" in searching for life on Mars is on schedule for a May 25 landing in the red planet's Arctic region, say NASA scientists.

The Phoenix Mars Lander is on schedule for its May 25 landing on Mars. Image: Map showing landing site of Phoenix apprx 68 degrees north latitude. Credit: NASA

The Phoenix Mars Lander will enter Mars' atmosphere at around  13,000 mph (21,000 kph) before slowing to 10 mph (16 kph) prior to landing where it will encounter temperatures ranging from 73 degrees Celsius (minus 99 degrees Fahrenheit) to minus 33 C (minus 27 F).

"This is not a trip to grandma's house. Putting a spacecraft safely on Mars is hard and risky," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Internationally, fewer than half the attempts have succeeded."

The main risk to the Lander are large rocks which would impede the craft as it lands or prevent the solar panels from opening, however numerous shots of the landscape by the precision High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, have attempted to pick a landing spot where rocks are smaller than the craft, lessening the risk.

"We have blanketed nearly the entire landing area with HiRISE images," said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, chairman of the Phoenix landing-site...
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