Reuters, LA Times, others: New Mars mission set for blast-off to north pole of next planet from the sun

Published: August 3, 2007, 11:56 am

Nerves are stretched at NASA, at Cape Canaveral, and in Tucson, AZ as launch approaches for NASA’s Mars Phoenix mission. It was to have been today but bad weather pushed it back at least to tomorrow, Sat. Aug. 4. The little, largely recycled and rather clever lander is headed for the Martian arctic to dig into and analyze ice-rich soil. It will be the first direct study of water on Mars, after many years of NASA fixation on H2O and prospects for life out there. The mission was proposed and is managed by a team based at the U. of Arizona. It is the only one headed for Mars during the current favorable alignment of Earth and Mars orbits, an energy-thrifty window that comes along every 26 months or so. A steady parade of curtain raisers have run in recent weeks, even months. Here are some of the latest prior to the countdown’s zero and ignition. It won’t get there until May. Then real news should start to flow. -CP Stories: Reuters Irene Klotz; LA Times John Johnson

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