NASA has released a feature film like video named Seven Minutes of Terror, which gives an animated look at the Phoenix spacecraft’s mission to Mars.
The $438 million spacecraft is designed to help scientists assess whether the Martian arctic has ever had conditions favourable to microbial life.
“It’s the first mission that’s going to try and reach out and touch water on the surface of another planet,” said Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) systems engineer, Ben Cichy.
It depicts the spacecraft’s journey, from initial construction, to the take-off, and the risky landing which passed through the fiery Martian atmosphere.
The Phoenix successfully touched down on Mars’s frigid North Pole region earlier today.
In just seven minutes the probe used a parachute and then thrusters, to brake from 20 thousand kilometres an hour and make a soft landing on its three legs.
The spacecraft will spend the next three months digging into the soil and ice to determine if Mars was ever suitable to sustain life.