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The Phoenix Mission was the first project in NASA's first openly competed program of Mars Scout missions. Phoenix would land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. It would serve as NASA's first exploration of a potential modern habitat on Mars and open the door to a renewed search for carbon-bearing compounds, last attempted with NASA's Viking missions in the 1970s. Phoenix was in development for launch in August 2007. It would land in May 2008 on arctic ground where the Mars Odyssey orbiter had detected high concentrations of ice just beneath the top layer of soil.
A stereo color camera and a weather station would study the surrounding environment while the other instruments check excavated soil samples for water, organic chemicals and conditions that could indicate whether the site was ever hospitable to life. Microscopes would reveal features as small as one one-thousandth the width of a human hair. Like its namesake mythological bird, Phoenix rose from remnants of its predecessors. It would use many components of a spacecraft originally built for a 2001 Mars lander mission, which was kept in careful storage after that mission was cancelled. The planned science payload for Phoenix included instruments built for the 2001 lander and improved versions of others flown on the lost Mars Polar Lander in 1999. Science Objectives
Findings from Mars Odyssey indicated the top half meter (20 inches) of Mars' surface layer was mostly ice throughout large regions of the planet pole-ward of 65 degrees north latitude. Phoenix would seek clues about the history of that ice. Was this the frozen residue of an ancient ocean? Did it diffuse into the ground from water vapor in the atmosphere? Did a retreating ice sheet leave it behind? Information such as the amount of layering, the textures of the ice and soil, and the chemical composition at different depths could distinguish among those and other possibilities.
Indicators about the history of the near-surface ice, together with Phoenix instruments' observations of seasonal changes over a span of several months, would improve understanding about climate cycles on Mars. One tantalizing question was whether cycles, either short-term or long-term, might produce conditions when even small amounts of near-surface water might stay melted.
The goal of learning about ice history and climate cycles dovetailed with the Phoenix mission's most exciting task -- to evaluate whether an environment hospitable to microbial life may exist at the ice-soil boundary. Even if water remained liquid only for short periods between long intervals, life could persist if other factors were right, as studies of arctic environments on Earth testify. Phoenix would examine some of those other factors, such as whether organic compounds were present and whether strong oxidants in the soil make conditions too harsh for life.
Mission Overview
After extensive testing, Phoenix would be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., in August 2007. It would reach Mars in May 2008 and land with the use of descent engines just prior to touchdown, rather than making an airbag-cushioned landing like those of the Mars Pathfinder and the Mars Exploration Rover missions. The Phoenix mission timeline called for the solar-powered lander to operate on Mars' surface for up to five months. The spacecraft's robotic arm would dig a trench up to a half meter (20 inches) deep.
The mission's specific landing site would be selected based on detailed reconnaissance of candidate sites conducted by spacecraft orbiting Mars. The candidate sites would lie between the northern latitudes of 65 degrees and 75 degrees. Summer would be starting in Mars' northern hemisphere at the time of Phoenix's planned arrival.
Plans called for the lander's primary communications link with Earth to be relay via NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Spacecraft A lander built and tested for NASA's 2001 Mars Surveyor program had been stored at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., since the lander portion of the 2001 program was cancelled in the wake of two 1999 Mars mission failures. Plans called for Phoenix to use the lander, three instruments and other components from the 2001 mission.
The spacecraft would carry six instruments.
Mars Scouts were competitively proposed missions intended to supplement, at relatively low cost, the core missions of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. The Phoenix mission plan, developed by a team led by a University of Arizona scientist, was one of 25 proposals submitted for the first Mars Scout solicitation round. NASA originally planned to select a second Mars Scout from a future round of proposals to fly in 2011.
The Phoenix Team
Dr. Peter H. Smith of the University of Arizona was principal investigator for Phoenix. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, managed the project for the NASA Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems was the primary industrial partner for the mission. At NASA Headquarters, Karen McBride was Mars Scout program executive and Dr. James Garvin was Mars Scout program scientist. At JPL, Barry Goldstein was Phoenix project manager and Dr. Leslie Tamppari was Phoenix project scientist. At Lockheed- Martin, Ed Sedivy was flight system program manager for Phoenix.
AKA: Phoenix Mars Scout.