Context Image of Planned Landing Site

This view covers an area about 27 kilometers (17 miles) wide within the planned landing area for NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander. It was taken by the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and catalogued as image P02_001893_2485_XI_68N126W_061221 from that instrument.

Note the crater near the top (north) of the image. The red box indicates the position of a higher-resolution image PIA09948 of ground texture in this area.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The spacecraft's Context Camera is operated by and was provided by Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif.

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.