Full-Circle Color Panorama of Phoenix Landing Site on Northern Mars, Vertical Projection

This view combines more than 400 images taken during the first several weeks after NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander arrived on an arctic plain at 68.22 degrees north latitude, 234.25 degrees east longitude on Mars.

The full-circle panorama in approximately true color shows the polygonal patterning of ground in the landing area, similar to patterns in permafrost areas on Earth. North is toward the top. Trenches where Phoenix's robotic arm has been exposing subsurface material are visible just north of the lander.

This view comprises more than 100 different camera pointings, with images taken through three different filters at each pointing. It is presented here as a vertical projection.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

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.