A new space explorer is waitin' in t' wings and ready t' take center stage: t' Mars lander called Phoenix. Blimey! Phoenix's assignment is t' dig through t' Martian soil and ice in t' arctic region and use its onboard scientific instruments t' analyze t' samples it retrieves. Begad! Mars is a cold desert planet with no liquid water on its surface. But in t' Martian arctic, matey, water ice lurks just below ground level. Discoveries made by t' Mars Odyssey Orbiter in 2002 show large amounts o' subsurface water ice in t' northern arctic plain. T' Phoenix lander targets this circumpolar region usin' a robotic arm t' dig through t' protective top soil layer t' t' water ice below and ultimately, t' brin' both soil and water ice t' t' lander platform for sophisticated scientific analysis. T' complement o' t' Phoenix spacecraft and its scientific instruments are ideally suited t' uncover clues t' t' geologic history and biological potential o' t' Martian arctic. Phoenix will be t' first mission t' return data from either polar region providin' an important contribution t' t' overall Mars science strategy "Follow t' Water" and will be instrumental in achievin' t' four science goals o' NASA's long-term Mars Exploration Program. - Determine whether Life ever arose on Mars - Characterize t' Climate o' Mars - Characterize t' Geology o' Mars - Prepare for Human Exploration T' Phoenix Mission has two bold objectives t' support these goals, which are t' (1) study t' history o' water ...