Scientists from all over the world have left no stone unturned to explore clues of biological life on planets outside our solar system. However, right now, the focus is on Mars, which has showed some signs of supporting life.
In its latest series of Mars Exploration, NASA is all set to launch a robotic spacecraft called Phoenix Mars Lander from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Friday, August 3. Phoenix will probe deep down the surface of Mars in order to look out for sings of water and weather conditions on the planet.
After its 423-million-mile trip, the Phoenix spacecraft will land on the planet’s northern arctic plains, analyzing soil and ice to see if it could support microbial life. An 8-foot arm, made of aluminum and titanium, will scoop up the soil unto 20 inches down and dump it into onboard science instruments.
Managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and built by Lockheed Martin, Phoenix cost $420 million compared to the hardy rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which cost $820 million to launch in 2003.
It is a three months mission and will be the first to dig beneath the Martian surface since the Viking mission three decades ago. Hope, it survives the landing on the surface of the rocky, dusty red plane, famous to engulf 10 global attempts out of 15 to land a spacecraft.
Viking orbiters sent on Mars in 1976 provided more than 50,000 photographs of the Martian surface with evidences of biological activity in the soil and presence of water on the Red Planet with a temperature below freezing point.
Phoenix will land on a site where the previous Lander had shown the signs of water and believed to have an alien civilization.
However, according to Renno, member of Phoenix science team, Phoenix may get minor resistance in collecting soil and ice samples from Martian windstorms up to 11 mph expected all the time on the site of landing.
Contributing to the project are scientists from York, Alberta and Dalhousie universities as well as the Geological Survey of Canada, the Finnish Meteorological Institute and MDA Space Missions.
Although, the mission is mainly intended to detect life supportive conditions and to understand water cycle on Mars, it can provide a huge data regarding the weather conditions and atmosphere if it successfully managed to land on the Red planet.
Image Credit: SPACE
Via: CNN
