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About the Phoenix Mars Lander
The Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft left Earth from Cape Canaveral, Fla., at 2:26 a.m. Tucson time on Aug. 4, 2007.
The first radio signal from the moment of landing in Mars' arctic region is expected at 4:53 p.m. Tucson time on May 25, during Memorial Day weekend.
The lander has a robotic arm with a shovel-like device on the end of it that will allow scientists to take soil samples from Mars and analyze them.
The purpose of the University of Arizona-led mission is to answer important questions about the red planet, including whether Mars has ever had life, how humans should prepare for exploring Mars, what Mars can teach us about climate change and how geological processes differ between Mars and Earth.
DID YOU KNOW
The Phoenix mission's name symbolizes its "rising from the ashes" of two failed attempts to explore Mars. It uses instruments from the Mars Polar Lander, which failed to return data from Mars' antarctic region in December 1999, and the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander, which was never launched.
MarsQuest movie
The UA's Flandrau Science Center is featuring a planetarium show about Mars. Although it doesn't focus on the Phoenix Mars Lander, it does give a general overview of the planet, its significance and past and future exploration. For more information go to www.gotuasciencecenter.org or call 621-STAR (7827).
Mars Facts and Games
For a quick "Mars 101" lesson and links to fun facts, games and puzzles about Mars, check out the Phoenix Mars Lander Web site at phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

Tucson Region

Mars 'madness' is mounting in Tucson

UA's leadership in lander mission sparks events
By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.11.2008
Mars fever is building.
Two weeks from today, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is scheduled to touch down on the red planet. The event is significant in Tucson because the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Lab team is leading the mission's science and built some of the instruments.
In recent days, the Phoenix Mars Scout Mission's public outreach and education team has been fielding an average of 150 to 200 e-mails and 20 phone calls each day, team manager Carla Bitter said.
The team has done large-scale national outreach through NASA, and at least 15,000 students have visited the local Science Operations Center, which is mission control for the Phoenix lander.
"Our calls are from people inquiring about our MarsBots summer camp for kids, from museums planning landing events and from many individuals, tourists, also from reporters and film crews," Bitter said.
Fewer than half of attempts to land on Mars have succeeded, but planetary scientists leading the Phoenix Mars mission are cautiously optimistic. So far, all looks good, they say.
Public events to celebrate the landing are planned for at least 110 sites around the world, including London and Paris.
There's even a virtual landing bash planned, in Second Life, which is a virtual social world on the Internet.
Bitter said Second Life's launch party attracted more people, virtually, than the real-life launch event.
The UA has participated in almost every American planetary mission for a half-century and has received more NASA grants for space exploration than any other university in the nation.
The Phoenix Mars Lander is the UA's biggest space project yet. After the May 25 landing, NASA will turn mission control over to the university's team, led by principal investigator Peter H. Smith. The UA is the first public university to lead a mission to Mars.
Last week, UA's "Got Science?" Café event at Downtown's Enoteca Pizzeria Wine Bar packed the restaurant with about 80 people.
They came to listen to the UA father and son team of Patrick and Rigel Woida give a talk titled, "Countdown to Mars! Your Guide to the Mars Phoenix Lander." Both are engineers for the mission.
On May 24, Loews Ventana Canyon Resort is hosting a public Mars party beginning at 7 p.m. The party will be hosted by Phoenix Mars Lander test engineer Rob Bovill and Sanlyn Buxner, an education specialist for the mission.
It will include stargazing, build-your-own Martian snow cones in honor of the sub-surface water-ice the lander will study, Mars games and live presentations.
And on landing day, at least 1,000 people are expected to party on and around the UA Mall, where science-related activities for kids, cake, balloons and telescopes for viewing the sun are expected.
There will be live-feed broadcasts of the lander's anticipated touchdown, with staffers on hand from the Phoenix mission and HiRise — the UA's High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, which is aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Away from the Mall, scientists and their families are planning a celebration at the Science Operations Center, the headquarters of the mission, which is in Tucson's Feldman's Neighborhood.
"We're excited," Feldman's Neighborhood Association President Monika Ashe said.
"This is a big, international event, and it happens to be in our historic neighborhood.
"We're trying to do our part and clean up the area. I see so much effort has gone into this."
The UA Museum of Art has scheduled a touchdown day celebration featuring the work of NASA space artist Robert McCall.
And "Mars merchandise" is already for sale on the Phoenix Mars Lander Web site, including T-shirts, sweatshirts and bags.
● Contact reporter Stephanie Innes at 573-4134 or sinnes@azstarnet.com.
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