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Mission record

Phoenix

Also known as Phoenix Mars Lander, PhoenixMarsLander

National Aeronautics and Space Administration · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

Phoenix launched on 04 August 2007 on a Delta II 7925 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and its 681 million km heliocentric cruise to Mars took approximately 10 months. At 1 km altitude the parachute was released and a powered descent and soft-landing was achieved using a pulsed propulsion system with 8 thrusters, which turned off when footpad sensors detected touchdown. The landing site is in the north polar region between 65 and 72 degrees N, a relatively boulder-free area with a high ratio of ice to rock. Communications were maintained through the relays on the orbiting Mars spacecraft Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Express throughout the descent. As the summer ended the mission had less solar energy to operate and made its last transmission on 02 November 2008 before power was depleted.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Delta II
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Lander

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on a Delta II 7925

    Phoenix launched on 04 August 2007 at 09:26:34 UT (5:26 a.m. EDT) on a Delta II 7925 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and the launch/orbital information page gives the same instant as 2007-08-04T09:26:34Z with Launch Vehicle: Delta II. The committed vehicle string is the Facts in Brief one, Delta II, and the fuller Delta II 7925 the text prints is recorded here rather than in the field.

    Earth

  2. Landing

    Touchdown confirmation received on Earth

    Goldstone received a relayed touchdown confirmation at 23:53:44 UTC on 25 May 2008, about 15 minutes after Phoenix landed. This event timestamp is Earth receipt time. NASA Science reports touchdown at 23:38:38 UTC; the PDS Phoenix Atmospheric Structure Experiment report lists 23:38:24 UTC, so the reviewed sources disagree on the exact spacecraft second. The later PDS Doppler solution places the site at areocentric 68.21878 ± 0.00006 degrees N, 234.24845 ± 0.000096 degrees E and radius 3376.2915 ± 0.0014 km. The older NAIF operational site is a separate estimate.

    Mars

  3. Mission end

    Last transmission before power was depleted

    As the summer ended the mission had less solar energy to operate and made its last transmission on 02 November 2008 before power was depleted. Cost of the mission is estimated at $417 million.

    Mars

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Phoenix Mars Lander · Lander

    Destinations: Mars

Trajectory record

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: August 4, 2007 to November 2, 2008

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • Phoenix: Reconstructed · August 4, 2007 to May 25, 2008
  • Phoenix descent: Reconstructed · May 25, 2008 to May 25, 2008
  • Phoenix operational fixed landing site: Reconstructed · May 25, 2008 to November 2, 2008

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through October 10, 2026