Onto The Ice: Catching Up With the Phoenix Mars Mission

[
      
        {
          "name": "Air - MedRect Combo - Inline Content 1",
          "component": "29441156",
          "insertPoint": "1/3",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "9",
          "parentWrapperClass": "fdn-ads-inline-content-block"
        },{
          "name": "Top Stories Video Pair",
          "component": "27651162",
          "insertPoint": "10",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1",
          "parentWrapperClass": "fdn-ads-inline-content-block"
        },{
          "name": "Air - MedRect Combo - Inline Content 2",
          "component": "29441158",
          "insertPoint": "2/3",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "10",
          "parentWrapperClass": "fdn-ads-inline-content-block"
        },{
          "name": "Air - MedRect Combo - Inline Content 3",
          "component": "29441159",
          "insertPoint": "1000",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "15",
          "parentWrapperClass": "fdn-ads-inline-content-block"
        }
      
      ]

• NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University

Our friends at KUAT-TV present another Arizona Public Media production this evening: Phoenix Mars Mission: Onto The Ice shows how Peter Smith and his team at the UA Lunar and Planetary Lab dropped a robot lab onto the Martian north pole and sent back photos, weather reports and soil and air samples. The special will be airing nationally on PBS World channel on Thursday, March 4.

They're still listening to see if Phoenix can send a signal, but after a year under that ice, it's a long shot.

Bonus for space nuts: Tonight's Nova will feature The Pluto Files at 8 p.m.

More on Phoenix here.