The center of the red circle on this map shows where NASA's Phoenix Mars
Lander eased down to the surface of Mars, at approximately 68 degrees
north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude. 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 map shows a color-coded interpretation of geomorphic units—categories
based on the surface textures and contours. The geomorphic mapping is
overlaid on a shaded relief map 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.
