NASA's newest outpost in the solar system is a polygon-cracked terrain in
Mars' northern polar region believed to hold a reservoir of ice beneath .
Hours after the Phoenix Mars lander softly landed last Wednesday in the
Martian artic plains , it dazzled scientists with the first-ever glimpse of the Red
Planet's high nothern latitudes.
Hong Kong-born Li Fuk , NASA Jet Propulsion Labouratory manager of the
Mars Exploration program , announced the moment : " Phoenix has landed . Welcome to the surface of Mars . "
A flood of images sent back by Phoeninx revealed a landscape similar to what can be found in Earth's permafrost regions - geometric patterns in the soil
likely related to the freezing and thawings of ground ice .
"this is a scentist's dream , right here on this landing site , " said principal
investigator Peter Smith , of the University of Arizona , Tucson .