NASA Phoenix Mars landing

nasa phoenix landing, phoenix mars landing, nasa mars mission

Mission controllers at NASA celebrated the safe touchdown of the Phoenix Mars probe at the north pole of Mars in the early hours of May 26. The spacecraft made a flawless landing in tMars at 00.54 BST.

NASA engineers were in continuous contact with the $420m probe for every second of its landing through the thin Martian atmosphere. With the spacecraft moving toward the planet at a spped of 13,000mph, there was a danger of it heating up that could have produced a plasma, leading to telecommunication link interruption.

An excited Barry Goldstein, the project manager on the Phoenix mission, said "In my dreams, it couldn't have gone as perfect as it did".

Goldstein sid that the probe was lying at a 0.25 degree tilt on a completely flat terrain and positioned East-West as planned. In the next few minutes, mission controllers expect the orbiting Mars Odyssey probe to fly over and pick up signals confirming Phoenix has successfully opened its twin solar arrays, which will power its three month mission.