This artist's concept depicts NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander a moment before its 2008 touchdown on the arctic plains of Mars. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona)
The Phoenix Rises
NASA’s Mars Phoenix mission blasted off safely from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Saturday 4th August, aiming for a landing in the red planet’s northern polar region in late May 2008. On board the spacecraft are experiments to search for life in Martian ice that rely on UK technology. The mission represents the first chance for UK hardware to contribute to the exploration of Mars since the failed Beagle 2 spacecraft launched in 2003.
The Martian surface will be explored for conditions favourable for past or present life thanks to micro-machine technology supplied by Imperial College London. A team at Imperial’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering have provided substrates—surfaces used to hold samples for imaging—for the Mars Phoenix mission. These substrates will hold dust and soil for examination in a microscope station attached to the Phoenix lander.
The grains of Martian dust and soil, delivered by a mechanical excavating arm, will be imaged by an optical microscope and an atomic force microscope. Together they will provide the highest resolution of imaging ever taken on another planet.
“Nobody has looked at Mars at this type of resolution. It is very difficult to predict what we might find, but if you wanted to look for the earliest forms of past or present life we will be the first to look closely enough,” said Dr Tom Pike, leader of the Imperial team.
The aim of the NASA mission is to search for potential biological habitable zones. The Phoenix lander is scheduled to touch down on the northern ice-rich polar region known as the Vastitas Borealis. The mission represents the first attempt to actually touch and analyse Martian water in the form of buried ice in order to investigate whether frozen water near the Martian surface might periodically melt enough to sustain a habitable zone for primitive microbes.
If Phoenix lands successfully, scientists will have three months to complete their tasks. They will race against the clock to dig for, and analyse, materials before the Martian winter sets in and the solar panels no longer provide enough power to run the vehicle.
Click on the link below to find out more about the Phoenix mission.
