* Astronomy

Phoenix Mars Lander Press Opportunity at KSC Tuesday, June 26
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, to be launched on a Delta II rocket Aug. 3, will be the focus of a news media opportunity on Tuesday, June 26, at Kennedy Space Centre.
After a brief orientation, media representatives will be taken inside the clean room at KSC's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. Phoenix can be observed tucked inside the cruise stage that will carry it to the red planet. Project management and test team members from NASA, Lockheed Martin and the University of Arizona will be available for interviews.

The Phoenix spacecraft will land in the arctic region of Mars and attempt to answer questions such as: Can the Martian arctic support life? What is the history of water at the polar landing site? How is the Martian climate affected by polar seasonal change?

To answer these questions, Phoenix uses some of the most sophisticated and advanced technology ever sent to Mars. A robotic arm on the lander will dig through the soil to the water ice layer underneath, and deliver soil and ice samples to the mission's experiments. On the instrument deck are miniature ovens, a mass spectrometer, an atomic force microscope and a "chemistry lab-in-a box" to analyse the samples. Imaging systems will provide an unprecedented view of Mars. Also included is a weather station.

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Gusting winds and the pulsating exhaust plumes from the Phoenix spacecraft's landing engines could complicate NASA's efforts to sample frozen soil from the Martian surface, according to a University of Michigan study.
Set to launch August 3 from Florida, the 414 million dollar Phoenix Mars Lander will use descent engines to touch down on the northern plains of the Red Planet, where vast stores of ice have been detected just below the surface.
A robotic arm will scoop frozen soil and dump it into science instruments that will analyse its chemical content to see if the soil has the potential to sustain microbial life.

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The NASA Phoenix Mars lander, carrying the most ambitious laboratory hardware ever sent to another planet, is ready for launch on a mission to taste Martian water and search for the organic carbon building-blocks of life near the planets north pole.
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STATUS REPORT: ELV-051807

Mission: Phoenix
Location: Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility
Launch Pad: 17-A
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7925
Launch Date: Aug. 3, 2007
Launch Time: 5:35:18 a.m. EDT

* The dry spin test of the spacecraft was successfully completed. A heat shield deployment test also was successfully conducted Wednesday.
* The electrical power system final performance test was completed Thursday.
* The flight software will be loaded aboard the spacecraft on May 21.
* Compatibility testing with the Deep Space Network is scheduled for May 23-25.
* In Hangar AO at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, gimbal slew tests of the Delta II first-stage main engine will be conducted next week. These are main engine steering checks using the first-stage hydraulic systems.