After making the first successful landing on Mars after a 422 million miles journey, the Phoenix Lander sent some images on Monday, showing that the spacecraft is in a very good condition.
NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars on Sunday and it will begin a three months mission in which it would be examining a site that is believed to have frozen water under its surface, from where the lander will dig with its robotic arm in order to raise samples.
The recent images confirmed the NASA team on Earth that the spacecraft’s solar arrays, which are vital for its energy, were unfolded properly and masts for the stereo camera and weather station had swung into the correct vertical position, while also showing a glimpse of the flat valley surface, which is expected to offer an answer on whether could life develop on Mars or not.
"We see the lack of rocks that we expected, we see the polygons that we saw from space, we don't see ice on the surface, but we think we will see it beneath the surface. It looks great to me," said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, principal investigator for the Phoenix mission.
The Phoenix Mars Lander sent radio signals that confirmed it had survived its very difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. The signals stopped one minute after landing, as planned, since the spacecraft had to focus its limited battery power on opening its solar arrays and other critical activities.
"Seeing these images after a successful landing reaffirmed the thorough work over the past five years by a great team," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of JPL.
The next move that will prove the success of the mission would not be conducted until Tuesday, when the lander will first use its 7.7-foot-long robotic arm.
"Only five of our planet's 11 previous attempts to land on the Red Planet have succeeded. In exploring the universe, we accept some risk in exchange for the potential of great scientific rewards," said Ed Weiler, NASA associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
