- The first Mars Scout mission was launched at 09:26 UTC on Aug 4. Phoenix
is a Mars lander mission based on the hardware from the cancelled Mars
Surveyor 2001 Lander and instruments developed for the failed Mars Polar
Lander, and is intended to land in the Martian Arctic, Vastitas
Borealis, at 68.4N 233.0E areocentric (68.6N 127.0W areographic) near
the Scandia Colles hills.
- Total Phoenix mass is 680 kg including a 350 kg lander; the remaining
mass includes a cruise stage, aeroshell, backshell, parachute system
and propellant .
The lander carries a robotic arm, soil analysis instruments,
meteorology instruments, and cameras.
- Launch was by Boeing/ULA Delta 7925-9.5 from pad 17A at Cape Canaveral;
the Delta second stage burned to a 166 x 167 km x 28.5 deg parking orbit
at 0935 UTC, and again at 1140 UTC to a 163 x 5651 km x 28.5 deg
intermediate orbit. The ATK solid PAM-D (Star 48) third stage fired at
1044 UTC and shut down at 1045 UTC; at 1050 UTC two 'yo-yo' weights on
cables were deployed to despin the stage, and the stage separated from
Phoenix. The PAM-D, the two weights, and Phoenix were then on a
hyperbolic Earth escape orbit with a perigee of 195 km and an asymptotic
specific energy of C3= 29.080 km^2/s^2.
- Phoenix will pass lunar orbit at
0445 UTC on Aug 5 and leave the Earth's gravitational sphere of
influence early on Aug 6, into a solar orbit of 0.975 x 1.668 AU with an
ecliptic inclination of 3.4 deg. The probe is targeted for Mars arrival
on 2008 May 25; the other three objects will fly past Mars.
- The Mars Phoenix probe landed on Mars at 2338:24 UTC on May 25, 2008.
Landing site was near 68.22N 234.3E (areocentric), the Green Valley site
among the Scandia Colles in Vastitas Borealis.
-
 Phoenix footpad
|
 Phoenix first landscape |
