This map compares the size of the area where NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is
expected to land, called the landing ellipse (red), to the size of the San
Francisco Bay Area.
Phoenix has a 99.9 percent probability of landing within the area denoted
by its landing ellipse, a region in the northern plains of Mars centered
at approximately 68 degrees north latitude, 233 degrees east longitude.
The ellipse is about 70 kilometers (44 miles) long. Phoenix is most likely
to land near the center of the ellipse, and least likely to land at its
very edges.
The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf
of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin
Space Systems, Denver.
