Phoenix successful

The first pictures sent back by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander from the northern arctic plains of Mars show a flat terrain marked by a polygonal pattern of shallow troughs and a few pebbles scattered about.

"Follow the water'" has been NASA's mantra for its Mars exploration for more than a decade. Phoenix will be the first space probe to directly touch Martian water when its robotic arm digs down to the ice layer.

Phoenix reached its destination after a 422-million-mile journey that lasted almost 10 months.

During the final, tense minutes of the descent, long stretches of quiet in the mission control room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were punctuated by cheers and clapping as confirmation of crucial events like the deployment of the parachute were confirmed.

At 9.53 p.m. there were more cheers as confirmation came that one more critical event, the unfolding of the solar arrays, had occurred without problems. And then the first pictures arrived: black and white images of the solar panels, of one of the lander's first- pads and of surrounding terrain, showing the polygonal fractures caused by repeated expansion and contraction of the underground ice. Later, it will begin the first up-close investigation of Mars's polar region.

Analysing the vapours will provide information on the minerals and that will in turn provide clues about whether the ice over melted and whether this region was habitable.

'We the Phoenix as a stepping- stone to future investigations of Mars' Dr.Smith said.