The spacecraft Phoenix landed safely on Mars yesterday, making a hazardous soft landing on the planet’s far north with all its scientific systems apparently intact and ready to begin an intensive new search for life beyond Earth.

Like the Viking landers, Phoenix is designed to look for organic material and other signs that life has existed on Mars, or could exist on the planet. Unlike the two rovers that have been exploring the Martian surface for nearly five years, Phoenix is built to stay in one place and use its robotic arm to dig into the soil and ice. The vehicle is equipped with several miniature chemistry labs to analyze the material it digs up.

The lander touched down further north on Mars than any previous lander. NASA scientists think the frozen water on or near the surface may tell them whether the minerals and organic compounds needed for life as we know it exist, or have ever existed, on the planet.

All scientific eyes will be watching.  For what?  God only knows for sure, but they will be watching and waiting…maybe now the world will get back to the exploration of space.