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Phoenix Headed for Martian North Pole in 2007

Posted by michael on from the need-some-original-names dept.

jschuur writes "After narrowing down the selections to 4 finalists, NASA has chosen the Phoenix Mars lander design for its 2007 Scout Mission to the planet Mars. Phoenix, a joint project between the University of Arizona and Planetary Laboratory was designed after the doomed 1999 Mars Polar Lander and recycles much of its design and instrument ideas. A staggering $325 million grant was awarded to the University of Arizona for the project, which will also include Canadian participation. Phoenix is scheduled to land on Mars in May of 2008."

2 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. Pay attention: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
    I hope they haven't recycled the imperial to numeric conversion code.


    Um, they are recycling Mars Polar Lander, not Mars Climate Orbiter. The unit conversion omission occurred on MCO, not MPL.

    MCO was already recycled and has been performing flawlessly... its reincarnation is known as Mars Odyssey.

    You got a score of five because people thought you were saying something insightful about the spaceprogram. Actually, though, you don't know shit about it.
  2. Re:Sample Return by mikerich · · Score: 3, Informative
    When are we going to see a sample return mission?

    Phoenix was chosen ahead of a sample return mission. I haven't seen what the exact reason was, but I imagine the tight $325 million cap would have precluded a viable sample return mission.

    ESA is thinking about a sample return mission at some point around 2011, but funding really depends on the success of Mars Express/Beagle 2.

    Best wishes,
    Mike.