NASA successfully launched their latest Mars bound probe – the Phoenix Mars lander. Phoenix will be the first probe to touch down using thrusters since the Viking 1 and 2 missions over 30 years ago. The Phoenix lander’s mission is to determine whether the icy ground near the planet’s north pole could have ever supported life.

Phoenix blasted off this morning from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, on a Delta II rocket at 5:26am EST. If all goes well, Phoenix will land on Mars in May of 2008. Phoenix will use a 2 meter long robotic arm to collect and analyze soils samples. Scientists expect to find water ice buried just a few centimeters beneath the surface.

Read more about this mission at the New Scientist.

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