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" After the threat of a rocky landing, NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander successfully touched down on Sunday night in an unexplored region near the Martian north pole, then sent back its first images of the planet&amp;#039;s surface. The first critical pieces of hardware have been deployed successfully, including solar arrays and the long stereoscopic camera that will examine the surroundings for earthbound geologists to geek out over and help aim the robotic digging arm. That arm will scrape soil and permafrost to check chemical composition and search for signs of former or current life. It didn&amp;#039;t take long for the lander to make news: Some of the first images transmitted generated buzz over how much ice will is present, and how far down. &amp;quot;We can see cracks in the troughs that make us think the ice is still modifying the surface,&amp;quot; said the University of Arizona&amp;#039;s Peter Smith, Phoenix&amp;#039;s principal investigator. &amp;quot;We see fresh cracks. Cracks can&amp;#039;t be old. They would fill in.&amp;quot; See for yourself with the gallery below, and stay tuned for a report from the control room on what the mission means to the future of Mars. Phoenix Makes a Grand Entrance  NASA&amp;#039;s Mars Phoenix Lander can be seen parachuting down to Mars, in this image captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA&amp;#039;s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This is the first time that a spacecraft has imaged the final descent of another spacecraft onto a planetary body. From a distance of about 310 kilometers (193 miles) above the surface of the Red Planet, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed its HiRISE obliquely toward Phoenix shortly after it opened its parachute while descending through the Martian atmosphere. The image reveals an apparent 10-meter-wide (30-foot-wide) parachute fully inflated. The bright pixels below the parachute show a dangling Phoenix. The image faintly detects the chords attaching the backshell and parachute. The surroundings look dark, but correspond to the fully illuminated Martian surface, which is much darker than the parachute and backshell. Phoenix released its parachute at an altitude of about 12.6 kilometers (7.8 miles) and a velocity of 1.7 times the speed of sound. The HiRISE acquired this image on May 25, 2008, at 4:36 p.m. Pacific Time (7:36 p.m. Eastern Time). It is a highly oblique view of the Martian surface, 26 degrees above the horizon, or 64 degrees from the normal straight-down imaging of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The image has a scale of 0.76 meters per pixel. NASA&amp;#039;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA&amp;#039;s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace &amp;amp;amp; Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.   RELATED STORIES * EARLIER: Phoenix Heads for Mars Seeking Microbial E.T.  * HOW IT WORKS: Inside NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander  * SPECIAL REPORT: Can Astronauts Really Survive on Mars?  Phoenix Footpad Up Close  NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander did a small amount of excavation as it touched down on pebbly north polar terrain on the Red Planet, as shown in this close-up view of one of the lander&amp;#039;s three footpads. The footpad appears to have slid a few inches as the lander touched down. This image was taken by the Surface Stereo Imager shortly after Phoenix landed May 25, 2008. (Photograph by NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&amp;amp;amp;M)   RELATED STORIES * EARLIER: Phoenix Heads for Mars Seeking Microbial E.T.  * HOW IT WORKS: Inside NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander  * SPECIAL REPORT: Can Astronauts Really Survive on Mars?  Phoenix Opens Its Eyes  This image, one of the first captured by NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander, shows the vast plains of the northern polar region of Mars. The flat landscape is strewn with tiny pebbles and shows polygonal cracking, a pattern seen widely in Martian high latitudes and also observed in permafrost terrains on Earth. The polygonal cracking is believed to have resulted from seasonal freezing and thawing of surface ice. Phoenix touched down on the Red Planet at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53 Eastern Time), May 25, 2008, in an arctic region called Vastitas Borealis, at 68 degrees north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude. This is an approximate-color image taken shortly after landing by the spacecraft&amp;#039;s Surface Stereo Imager, inferred from two color filters, a violet, 450-nanometer filter and an infrared, 750-nanometer filter. The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA&amp;#039;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.   RELATED STORIES * EARLIER: Phoenix Heads for Mars Seeking Microbial E.T.  * HOW IT WORKS: Inside NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander  * SPECIAL REPORT: Can Astronauts Really Survive on Mars?  First Look at Martian Arctic Plains  This image, one of the first captured by NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander, shows the vast plains of the northern polar region of Mars. The flat landscape is strewn with tiny pebbles and shows polygonal cracking, a pattern seen widely in Martian high latitudes and also observed in permafrost terrains on Earth. The polygonal cracking is believed to have resulted from seasonal freezing and thawing of surface ice. Phoenix touched down on the Red Planet at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53 Eastern Time), May 25, 2008, in an arctic region called Vastitas Borealis, at 68 degrees north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude. This image was taken shortly after landing by the spacecraft&amp;#039;s Surface Stereo Imager. The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA&amp;#039;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.   RELATED STORIES * EARLIER: Phoenix Heads for Mars Seeking Microbial E.T.  * HOW IT WORKS: Inside NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander  * SPECIAL REPORT: Can Astronauts Really Survive on Mars?  Icy, Patterned Ground on Mars  This image shows a polygonal pattern in the ground near NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander, similar in appearance to icy ground in the arctic regions of Earth. Phoenix touched down on the Red Planet at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53 p.m. Eastern Time), May 25, 2008, in an arctic region called Vastitas Borealis, at 68 degrees north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude. This is an approximate-color image taken shortly after landing by the spacecraft&amp;#039;s Surface Stereo Imager, inferred from two color filters, a violet, 450-nanometer filter and an infrared, 750-nanometer filter. The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA&amp;#039;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.   RELATED STORIES * EARLIER: Phoenix Heads for Mars Seeking Microbial E.T.  * HOW IT WORKS: Inside NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander  * SPECIAL REPORT: Can Astronauts Really Survive on Mars?  Solar Power Grid Unfurled  Shown here is one of the first images taken by NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander of one of the octagonal solar panels, which opened like two handheld, collapsible fans on either side of the spacecraft. Beyond this view is a small slice of the north polar terrain of Mars. The successfully deployed solar panels are critical to the success of the 90-day mission, as they are the spacecraft&amp;#039;s only means of replenishing its power. Even before these images reached Earth, power readings from the spacecraft indicated to engineers that the solar panels were already at work recharging the spacecraft&amp;#039;s batteries. Before deploying the Surface Stereo Imager to take these images, the lander waited about 15 minutes for the dust to settle. This image was taken by the spacecraft&amp;#039;s Surface Stereo Imager on Sol, or Martian day, 0 (May 25, 2008). The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA&amp;#039;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. This image has been geometrically corrected.     RELATED STORIES * EARLIER: Phoenix Heads for Mars Seeking Microbial E.T.  * HOW IT WORKS: Inside NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander  * SPECIAL REPORT: Can Astronauts Really Survive on Mars?  Robotic Arm Unwrapped  This image, taken shortly after NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander touched down on the surface of Mars, shows the spacecraft&amp;#039;s robotic arm in its stowed configuration, with its biobarrier successfully unpeeled. The &amp;quot;elbow&amp;quot; of the arm can be seen at the top center of the picture, and the biobarrier is the shiny film seen to the left of the arm. The biobarrier is an extra precautionary measure for protecting Mars from contamination with any bacteria from Earth. While the whole spacecraft was decontaminated through cleaning, filters and heat, the robotic arm was given additional protection because it is the only spacecraft part that will directly touch the ice below the surface of Mars. Before the arm was heated, it was sealed in the biobarrier, which is made of a trademarked film called Tedlar that holds up to baking like a turkey-basting bag. This ensures that any new bacterial spores that might have appeared during the final steps before launch and during the journey to Mars will not contact the robotic arm. After Phoenix landed, springs were used to pop back the barrier, giving it room to deploy. The base of the lander&amp;#039;s Meteorological Station can be seen in this picture on the upper left. Because only the base of the station is showing, this image tells engineers that the instrument deployed successfully. The image was taken on landing day, May 25, 2008, by the spacecraft&amp;#039;s Surface Stereo Imager. The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA&amp;#039;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.   RELATED STORIES * EARLIER: Phoenix Heads for Mars Seeking Microbial E.T.  * HOW IT WORKS: Inside NASA&amp;#039;s Phoenix Mars Lander  * SPECIAL REPORT: Can Astronauts Really Survive on Mars?                "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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