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Phoenix

NASA's Phoenix lander, which launched August 4, 2007 and landed on Mars on May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, was sent to the surface of Mars to search for evidence of past or present microbial life. The robotic arm could dig through the protective top soil layer to the water ice below and ultimately, bringing both soil and water ice to the lander platform for sophisticated scientific analysis.. Besides verifying the existence of water-ice in the Martian subsurface, Phoenix discovered traces of the chemical perchlorate, a possible energy source for microbes and a potentially valuable future resource for human explorers.

The complement of the Phoenix spacecraft and its scientific instruments were ideally suited to uncover clues to the geologic history and biological potential of the Martian arctic. Phoenix was the first mission to return data from either polar region providing an important contribution to the overall Mars science strategy "Follow the Water" and was instrumental in achieving the four science goals of NASA's long-term Mars Exploration Program.

• Determine whether Life ever arose on Mars
• Characterize the Climate of Mars
• Characterize the Geology of Mars
• Prepare for Human Exploration The Phoenix Mission has two bold objectives to
    support these goals, which are to (1) study the history of water in the Martian arctic
    and (2) search for evidence of a habitable zone and assess the biological potential of
    theice-soil boundary.

As planned, the robot onboard the Phoenix lander worked on Mars for three months of prime mission, plus two months of overtime, ending communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter. Besides verifying the existence of water-ice in the Martian subsurface, Phoenix discovered traces of the chemical perchlorate, a possible energy source for microbes and a potentially valuable future resource for human explorers. The Phoenix science team will be analyzing data and running comparison experiments for months to come.