Phoenix (spacecraft) other institutions. The $325 million NASA award is more than six times larger than any other single research grant in University of Arizona history. Peter H. Smith of the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, as Principal Investigator, along with 24 Co-Investigators, were selected to lead the mission. The mission was named after the Phoenix, a mythological bird that is repeatedly reborn from its own ashes. The "Phoenix" spacecraft contains several previously built components. The lander used for the 2007–08 mission is the modified Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander (canceled in 2000), along with several of the instruments from both
Strix (mythology) Europe. "Strega" (obviously derived from Latin "striga") is the Italian term for "witch", and in Romanian "strigăt" means 'scream', "strigoaică" is the name of the Romanian feminine vampire, and "strigoi "is the Romanian male vampire. Both can scream loudly, especially when they become poltergeists—a trait they have in common with the banshees. "Strigăt" is also the Romanian name of the barn owl and of the death's-head hawkmoth. Primary sources Secondary sources Strix (mythology) The strix (plural striges or strixes), in the mythology of classical antiquity, was a bird of ill omen, the product of metamorphosis, that fed on human flesh