Mission controllers cheered the safe touchdown of their Phoenix Mars probe at the north pole of the red planet in the early hours of this morning. The spacecraft made what appears to have been a flawless landing in the Martian Arctic at 00.54 BST.
Engineers were in contact with the $420m probe for every second of its descent through the thin Martian atmosphere. As the spacecraft hurtled toward the planet at 13,000mph, it heated up enough to produce a plasma, which could have interrupted telecommunication links.
"In my dreams, it couldn't have gone as perfect as it did," said Barry Goldstein, project manager on the Phoenix mission.
Goldstein confirmed the probe was lying at a 0.25 degree tilt - almost on completely flat terrain - and facing East-West as expected. In the next few minutes, mission controllers expect the orbiting Mars Odyssey probe to fly over and pick up signals confirming Phoenix has successfully opened its twin solar arrays, which will power its three month mission.
"I'm in shock. Never in rehearsal did it go so well," said Golstein.
Peter Smith, project leader of the mission, said: "We have to make sure the spacecraft is healthy...but I just can't imagine the solar arrays won't open."
