Mars lander aims for touchdown in 'Green Valley'

Mars lander aims for touchdown in 'Green Valley'

• 22:37 11 April 2008
• NewScientist.com news service
• David Shiga

  Enlarge image The Phoenix spacecraft is en route to land in a spot called Green Valley near Mars's north pole on 25 May (Illustration: NASA/JPL/Corby Waste) Tools Related Articles

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With less than two months to go before it is due to land on Mars, NASA's Phoenix probe has been directed towards a specific landing site called Green Valley. The site has few boulders that could potentially endanger a landing and lots of water ice for the lander to study.

Phoenix launched in August 2007 on a mission to Mars's icy north polar region. The ice may have occasionally melted in the past due to changes in the Red Planet's tilt, raising the tantalising possibility that microscopic life forms could once have eked out an existence there. Life might even be present there now in a dormant state.

The lander will dig down as much as 50 centimetres below the surface, collecting samples of soil and ice that it will examine to better understand the region's past climate and check for complex molecules that could be associated with life. The lander is expected to operate for 90 days.

The north polar region has always been Phoenix's general destination, but scientists have wanted to continue studying the region with other spacecraft before deciding where it should touch down. An engine burn on Thursday was the first intended to refine the spacecraft's path for a specific landing site.