The Phoenix mission will land a telerobot in the polar region of Mars in May 2008. One of the mission's two primary objectives is to look for a 'habitable zone' in the martian regolith where microbial life could exist, the other mission being to study the geological history of water on Mars. The lander will have a 2.5 meter robotic arm that is capable of digging a 0.5 meter trench in the regolith. The arm is fitted with an arm camera that will be able to verify that there is material in the scoop when returning samples to the lander for analysis – this overcomes an important design flaw in the Viking landers.
