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Arctic Landscape Within Reach

Target Name:  Mars-Phoenix
Spacecraft:  Phoenix Lander
Instrument:  Surface Stereo Imager (SSI)
Produced by:  NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Copyright: NASA Copyright Free Policy
Cross Reference:  PIA10684

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This image, one of the first captured by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, shows flat ground strewn with tiny pebbles and marked by small-scale polygonal cracking, a pattern seen widely in Martian high latitudes and also observed in permafrost terrains on Earth. The polygonal cracking is believed to have resulted from seasonal freezing and thawing of surface ice.

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, at 68 degrees north latitude, 234 degrees east longitude.

This image was acquired at the Phoenix landing site by the Surface Stereo Imager on day 1 of the mission on the surface of Mars, or Sol 0, after the May 25, 2008, landing.

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.

Copyright © 1995-2016 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.