Phoenix was a NASA robotic spacecraft that landed in the northern polar region of Mars and studied the planet's ice and soil. It was part of the Mars Scout programme and was led from the University of Arizona. The lander touched down in May 2008 on the northern plains, after a launch from Cape Canaveral on a Delta II rocket, and used a robotic arm to dig trenches and collect samples. It confirmed the presence of water ice under the surface, as earlier orbiters had suggested, and detected perchlorate salts in the soil. It also observed snow falling from clouds. The mission operated for several months, ending as the Martian winter's darkness and cold cut off its solar power.
Before and after
- 16 July 20072007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake
- 30 July 2007Death of Ingmar Bergman
- August 2007Launch of SoundCloud
- 1 August 2007Creation of Microsoft OneDrive
- 4 August 2007Launch of Phoenix
- 17 August 2007Premiere of Phineas and Ferb
- September 2007Launch of Pornhub
- from 8 September 2007 to 23 November 2012Premiere of iCarly
- 14 September 2007Launch of SELENE
More in Universe & space
- 16 February 1948Discovery of Miranda
- 5 September 1977Launch of Voyager 1
- 4 March 1979Discovery of Metis
- 24 April 1990Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
- 10 April 2019The first image of a black hole
- 25 December 2021Launch of James Webb Space Telescope
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.