Mars Lander to Search Pole for Signs of Life
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
NASA is moving ahead with plans to put a long-armed lander on Mars to probe its icy north pole and search for possible signs of life, the space agency said Thursday.
The $386-million Phoenix Mars is scheduled to touch down in May 2008. The stationary probe will use its robotic arm to dig into the icy terrain and scoop up soil samples to analyze. Phoenix, managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, will be the first mission of the Mars Scout program, a renewed, low-cost effort to study the Red Planet.
