On which planet is NASA's 'Phoenix' spacecraft due to land later this month?
Phoenix (spacecraft) suspended from its parachute during its descent through the Martian atmosphere. This marked the first time ever one spacecraft photographed another in the act of landing on a planet (the Moon not being a planet, but a satellite). The same camera also imaged "Phoenix" on the surface with enough resolution to distinguish the lander and its two solar cell arrays. Ground controllers used Doppler tracking data from "Odyssey" and "Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter" to determine the lander's precise location as . "Phoenix" landed in the Green Valley of Vastitas Borealis on May 25, 2008, in the late Martian northern hemisphere spring
Phoenix (spacecraft) following a critical review of the project's planning progress and preliminary design, NASA approved the mission to proceed as planned. The purpose of the review was to confirm NASA's confidence in the mission. Lander systems include a RAD6000 based computer system for commanding the spacecraft and handling data. Other parts of the lander are an electrical system containing solar arrays and batteries, a guidance system to land the spacecraft, eight and monopropellant hydrazine engines built by Aerojet-Redmond Operations for the cruise phase, twelve Aerojet monopropellant hydrazine thrusters to land the "Phoenix", mechanical and structural elements, and a heater system to