Several readers relayed the press release from JPL about the upcoming landing of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander on May 25. It's going to set down in the north polar regions and look for indications of whether conditions have even been favorable for...

After a journey that took more than 10 months to complete, NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander prepares to begin a three-month mission on the Red Planet. The Mars Lander is set to enter the Martian atmosphere on May 25, at the speed of 13,000 mph, which will be reduced to 5 mph in just 7 minutes, the time scientists said it will take Phoenix to reach the surface of the planet. The landing is scheduled to take place at approximately 7:53 p.m. EDT.

The mission was launched on August 4, 2007 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, with a landing site established at 68 degrees north latitude, 233 degrees east longitude, in Vastitas Borealis, or Mars’ arctic plains. The primary mission will be of 90 Martian days (the equivalent of 92 Earth days) at temperatures of minus 73 C to minus 33 C (minus 100 F to minus 28 F).

The Phoenix mission will not be limited to studying the northern permafrost region, “but takes the next step in Mars exploration by determining whether this region, which may encompass as much as 25 percent of the Martian surface, is habitable,” as Peter Smith, Phoenix principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson, explained.

With the help of high-resolution images (HiRISE) from NASA’s...
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