New Red Planet Probe Blasts Off
A probe designed to find out if Mars can support life has blasted off for the Red Planet.
Phoenix, the latest Nasa mission to Mars, will land on the icy surface of the planet's north pole.
Scientists believe conditions in this region are the most likely to yield evidence of past or present life.
The spacecraft, which is due to reach Mars on May 25 next year after a journey of 422 million miles, is fitted with a robotic arm for scooping up samples of muddy, icy Martian soil to a depth of 1.6 feet.
An onboard laboratory will heat up the samples and analyse the gases they give off.
Unlike the ill-fated British Beagle 2 probe which vanished as it attempted to land on Mars on Christmas Day 2003, Phoenix is not equipped to find signs of life.
Instead it will look for evidence that the soil is capable of harbouring living organisms.
A Delta II rocket is due to launch Phoenix into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 10.26am UK time today.
Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project manager at Nasa's jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, said: "Our attention after launch will be focused on flying the spacecraft to our selected landing site, preparing for surface operations, and continuing our relentless examination and testing for the all-important descent and landing on May 25 next year."
Recently the Nasa orbiter Odyssey discovered near-surface ice on the northern Martian plains.
"Our instruments are specially designed to find evidence for periodic melting of the ice and to assess whether this large region represents a habitable environment for Martian microbes," said Phoenix principal investigator Dr Peter Smith, from the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Phoenix is the first of Nasa's Scout series of spacecraft, designed for low-cost missions to Mars.
As well as testing the soil, Phoenix will take spectacular pictures with its stereo camera.
The probe will use a parachute and retro-thrusters to land on Mars, rather than relying on airbags as other craft have done.
Sky
