Composite View of Phoenix Trenches
Several of the trenches dug by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander are displayed in this approximately true color mosaic of images from the lander's Surface Stereo Imager camera.
The component images were taken on various dates during the five months that Phoenix studied its surroundings after landing on a Martian arctic plain on May 25, 2008.
The Phoenix Mission was led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission was by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development was by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.
Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter.