Click on the image for the animation
This animation shows an orbital view sweeping upward from Olympus Mons,
the tallest volcano in the solar system, to the location of NASA's Phoenix
Mars Lander in the northern polar reaches of Mars. The animation then
zooms in on the flat terrain where Phoenix touched down May 25, 2008.
Phoenix eased down to the surface of Mars at approximately 68 degrees
north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude, landing in the center of the
red circle at the end of the animation. Before Phoenix landed, engineers
had predicted it would land within the blue ellipse.
Phoenix touched down on the Red Planet at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53
p.m. Eastern Time), May 25, 2008, in an arctic region called Vastitas Borealis.
The shaded relief map is based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser
Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.
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.
