Mars Phoenix Lander, 10 Years Later

In this artist’s concept illustration, NASA’s Phoenix Lander begins to shut down operations as martian winter sets in. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Ten years ago this past week, a robot named Phoenix landed in the northern plains of Mars. The mission lasted a little over five months before the lander succumbed to the frigid martian winter, about two months longer than planned. Unlike Spirit and Opportunity, its roving older siblings near the equator, Phoenix was a stationary lander positioned at 68°N latitude—above the Arctic Circle on Earth (for any fellow Canadians out there, it’s about the same latitude as Inuvik). The goal of Phoenix was “to study the history of water and habitability potential in the martian arctic’s ice-rich soil.” And riches indeed it found there! Let’s take a look back at five big contributions to science made by the Phoenix mission in its brief time on Mars:

1. Ice, ice, baby!

Phoenix’s Robotic Arm Camera captured this view beneath the lander on sol 5 of its mission. The white patches near the centre were thought to be ice exposed by the lander’s descent thrusters (visible at the top of the image) during landing. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute

Multiple observations from orbit had hinted at buried ice in the high latitudes of Mars. To investigate this, the Phoenix lander was equipped with a robotic arm capable of digging into the soil. However, before the lander even got a chance to use this arm, its landing thrusters did some of the work for it—blasting away a few inches of loose soil—and exposed what appeared to be ice.