The Phoenix Mars Lander landed on Mars on May 25, 2008 after leaving Earth in August of 2007. The Phoenix Mars Mission is the first in NASA's Scout Program. According to the mission website, Phoenix is designed to study the history of water and habitability potential in the Martian arctic's ice-rich soil. The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, CO.
Several datasets have been made from the images that are taken during the mission. The < a href="http://sos.noaa.gov/catalog/datasets/phoenix-mars-lander-first-landing-images-2008
/"> Phoenix Mars Lander First Landing Images May 25, 2008 dataset includes pictures taken by the Stereo Surface Imager (SSI) shortly after landing on May 25, 2008. Phoenix Mars Landing with Parachute May 25, 2008 includes pictures taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment
(HiRISE) camera while the Phoenix Mars Lander parachuted to the surface of Mars. This dataset contains the first color pictures available from the Phoenix Mars Lander taken with the SSI. 360 Panoramic View of Mars from Phoenix Lander is a 360-degree view from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander showing the spacecraft's solar arrays, lander deck and the Martian polar landscape beyond. The Phoenix Mars Lander Color Panorama on Northern Mars dataset is another 360-degree view from the lander, but is in true color. A final dataset Midnight Sun from Mars Phoenix Lander Summer 2008, is a panoramic mosaic of images that documents the position of the midnight sun during several days of the mission. Full descriptions of each image are available as text files with the images on the FTP site.