The University of Arizona Goes to Mars
Is there life on Mars? Was there ever?
On August 4, 2007, The University of Arizona, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lockheed Martin and the Canadian Space Agency successfully launched the Phoenix Mars Lander from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission to the Red Planet hopes to answer questions that have tantalized scientists for centuries.
"Follow the water" is NASA's theme. The mission will do exactly that, beginning in May 2008 when the lander begins analyzing a small section of the northern polar ice sheet, looking for a habitable environment. After landing, mission control moves to the UA's Science Operation Center in Tucson.
The UA has participated in almost every American planetary mission for half a century and has received more NASA grants for space exploration than any other university in the nation. It is the first public university to lead a mission to Mars.
