Phoenix: the story
Phoenix · Chapter 1 of 9
4 August 2007
Launch
Phoenix left Earth on a Delta II 7925 from Space Launch Complex 17A.
Phoenix · Chapter 2 of 9
25 May 2008
Arrival
Powered descent at Vastitas Borealis.
Phoenix · Chapter 3 of 9
2007
Preparation
Technicians at Kennedy Space Center attached a crane to remove the heat shield from around Phoenix.
Phoenix · Chapter 4 of 9
25 May 2008
Arctic touchdown
The first successful landing of a stationary lander on Mars since Viking 2, about 32 years earlier.
Phoenix · Chapter 5 of 9
June 2008
Disappearing ice
Bright patches in the trench nicknamed Dodo-Goldilocks sublimated away over four days: water ice.
Phoenix · Chapter 6 of 9
2008
Digging
Its robotic arm dug trenches such as La Mancha to reach the ice under the soil.
Phoenix · Chapter 7 of 9
2008–2009
Winter
As the Sun sank, the lander lost power. Orbital images later showed it under the winter frost.
Phoenix · Chapter 8 of 9
2018
A decade later
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed Phoenix nearly ten years after landing.
Phoenix · Chapter 9 of 9
2 November 2008
Last signal
As the arctic winter set in, the Sun sank too low to power the lander. Its last signal came on 2 November 2008.
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