Postcard From Mars...

Phoenix’s mission on Mars is coming to an end. It actually surpassed the 90-day mark of its initial mission and its two solar arrays are no longer able to provide sufficient energy because of waning sunlight.

Phoenix’s original mission was to hunt for water ice buried beneath the barren arctic plains of Mars. But now the Martian days are getting colder and the sun is on the verge of dipping completely below the horizon for the first time since Phoenix landed in May.

Phoenix landed in the northern Vastitas Borealis region of Mars on May 25 and began scouting for water ice with the help of a shovel-tipped robotic arm and a science tool kit that included eight small ovens and a wet chemistry lab with four beakers, each the size of a teacup. The mission was successful and now we have the first photos to prove that.

"As we near what we originally expected to be the full length of the mission, we are all thrilled with how well the mission is going," Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a press release. The Phoenix mission has accomplished its goals: chemically analyzing Martian water for the very first time after having made a perfect landing in the northern polar region of Mars.

Moreover among their newly born curiosities, the Phoenix science team is trying to answer whether the northern region of Mars could have been a habitable zone.

Because Phoenix can still function with lower energy as well, NASA announced on July 31 that the mission would continue operations through Sept. 30.