Page 52 - ShareSpace's Mars Map Teacher's Guide - Sept 2016

The Phoenix Mars Mission is NASA’s first attempt at
putting a lander on the surface of Mars since the loss of
Polar Lander in 1999. Ask the students if they know what

a Phoenix is. The Phoenix mission is named after the
mythological bird that bursts into flames at death and is

reborn out of the ashes. Similar to its namesake, the
Phoenix Mission "raises from the ashes" a spacecraft and
instruments from two previous unsuccessful attempts to

explore Mars: the Mars Polar Lander and the Mars
Surveyor 2001 Lander.

The lander was originally built for the 2001 lander
mission. It is being modified to improve the spacecraft’s
safety as it enters the atmosphere of Mars and descends to
the surface. Ask students if they can identify the solar
panels. Set to launch in August of 2007, Phoenix will land
in the northern polar regions of Mars and will dig into the
soil down to the subsurface ice that was discovered by the
Mars Odyssey orbiter. You may want to refer back to the
e Odyssey slide.

Finally, let’s take a look at rovers. Ask the class what the
main difference between rovers and landers is. Let’s start

off with the Mars Pathfinder mission.
f a portion of the
obotic arm. At the end
ll pick up soil samples
m will deliver to
lander. The scoop also
n it to help scrape up
ver to the lander. The
era which will take
before they are placed
ts on the lander.