NASA'S Phoenix Spacecraft Reports Good Health After Mars Landing

PASADENA, Calif. NASAs Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars today to begin three months of examining a site chosen for its likelihood of having frozen water within reach of the landers robotic arm. It also sent pictures showing itself in good condition after making the first successful landing in a polar region of Mars. The images from NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander also provided a glimpse of the flat valley floor expected to have water-rich permafrost within reach of the lander's robotic arm. The landing ends a 422-million-mile journey from Earth and begins a three-month mission that will use instruments to taste and sniff the northern polar site's soil and ice. "We see the lack of rocks that we expected, we see the polygons that we saw from space, we don't see ice on the surface, but we think we will see it beneath the surface. It looks great to me," said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona , Tucson , principal investigator for the Phoenix mission. Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53:44 p.m. Eastern Time) confirmed the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. The signals took that long to travel from Mars to Earth at the speed of light. The signal confirming that Phoenix had survived touchdown was relayed via MarsOdyssey and received on Earth at the Goldstone, Calif., antenna station of NASAs Deep Space Network. You can read more, see first images, follow the blogs and more on the JPL website: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm Next press conference - the post-landing briefing, occurs on NASA TV 11 a.m. Monday morning: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/ I know you all join me in congratulating the Phoenix team on a successful soft landing on Mars! It was great fun to be at JPL today and tonight supporting the landing! <http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov> - Jane Houston Jones Monrovia, CA 34.2048N 118.1732W, 637.0 feet http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers: http://www.otastro.org