Aug 4 2003
From The Space Library
NASA selected the University of Arizona's Phoenix lander concept for a US$325 million mission to Mars in 2007, beating out finalists from Arizona State University, NASA's JPL, and NASA's LaRC. The Phoenix concept, aptly named for the mythical bird that rose from ashes, drew on the technology of past expeditions, such as the canceled 2001 Mars Surveyor Program. Phoenix's purpose was to search for evidence of water and carbon dioxide gas~ a robotic arm would scoop soil samples, small on-board ovens would heat the samples, and on-board instruments would analyze them, checking the soil for organic compounds. NASA called the Phoenix mission the first of a type of mission it had designated as Scout missions. If funding remained available, NASA planned to hold competitions every four years to select relatively small missions like Phoenix as Scout missions. (Chris Kridler, “Mission Will Look for Mars Ice,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 5 August 2003"
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