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The Beginning
http://en.wikipedia.orgThe Mission of the Phoenix was to determine whether there was water and life on Mars. NASA chose the University of Arizona to lead the mission based on a proposal from Peter H. Smith who was the Senior Research Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University. The mission was led from the campus in Tuscon, Arizona and was the first to be led by a university. NASA managed the project. -
Testing and Confirmation
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.eduThe development of the Phoenix was aided also by many other universities and the Canadian Space Agency. Lockheed Martin in Denver, Colorado was responsible for testing and in June, NASA gave their approval that everything had been tested and confirmed and the mission was on go. -
Launch
<a href='' >http://en.wikipedia.org</a>The Phoenix launched on August 4, 2004 from a Delta II 7925. The site of the launch was Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Its estimated mission duration was May 25, 2008 to November 2, 2008. -
Landing
http://en.wikipedia.orgThe Phoenix spacecraft or as sometimes called Lander arrived on Mars on May 25, 2008. The landing site was Green Valley (Mars) on an ice-rich region of Mars' north pole. -
Findings on Mars
<a href='' >http://en.wikipedia.org</a>While on Mars it was confirmed that the robotic arm had dug up dirt samples that were delivered to the laboratory on the Phoenix and the cameras had taken photos for NASA to state that water ice did exist on Mars, however, it could not confirm that there was life on Mars or that life could exist. -
The End of the Mission
<a href='' >http://en.wikipedia.org</a>The Phoenix was solar powered so once the season of Winter came on Mars, the spacecraft went into safe mode because it couldn't get enough power from the sun. The Phoenix Mission control reported that there was not any contact with the Lander on this date. Further attempts at contacting the spacecraft have not been successful.
