Phoenix has landed

The Phoenix Mars Lander landed successfully.
Yay JPL...!

JPL press release

Phoenix mission page

The ground at the landing site...
The polygonal patterns, seen from orbit previously, are suggestive of subsurface water ice that may have melted and refrozen repeatedly.
The lander will dig under the soil and sample water ice and look for organics.

The View - big picture...

First look...

Close up.

GNXP got there first

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"This suggests a robust biological response. These analyses support the interpretation that the Viking LR experiment did detect extant microbial life on Mars." -Bianciardi, Miller, Straat and Levin
The Phoenix lander on Mars has touched the soil and is getting ready to do some digging Images from beneath the lander show spots of what appear to be bright consolidated surfaces, possibly sub-surface ice exposed by the lander
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