Robot digger set to land Sunday at Martian pole

By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer, Space & Earth science / Space Exploration

This undated photo released by NASA shows an artist's rendering of the Phoenix lander on the arctic plains of Mars just as it has begun to dig a trench through the upper layer of soil. The polar water ice cap is shown in the distance. (AP Photo/NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Corby Waste)

(AP) -- Like a miner prospecting for gold, NASA hopes its latest robot to Mars hits pay dirt when it lands Sunday near the red planet's north pole to conduct a 90-day digging mission. The three-legged Phoenix Mars lander fitted with a backhoe arm is zeroing in on the unexplored arctic region where a reservoir of ice is believed to lie beneath the Martian surface.

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Posted by brant 05/19/08 21:43

Rank: 3/5 after 1 vote

I predict there will be no ice!!!!!! 2008 may 19th

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Posted by Mercury_01 05/20/08 12:37

Rank: 4/5 after 1 vote

That would be a real bummer, if it landed on a rocky scab with nowhere to dig. They could have at least given it some cheap wheels just in case!

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Posted by Tcimp 05/20/08 21:03

Not rated yet.

Why didn't they put wheels on it?

I guess because it is going to freeze?

Just seems to me that they could have done more than land it in one spot and hope they find something.