The Phoenix has landed and is sending back Mars pictures to Earth.
The Mars Phoenix lander touched
down in the far north of the Red Planet, after a 680 million-km (423 million-mile) journey from Earth.
The first Mars pictures, which the lander began taking shortly after touching down near Mars' north pole -- the end of a 422 million-mile trek -- showed a pattern of brown polygons as far as the camera could see.
The Mars Phoenix landers journey took it 296 days to cover the distance of 680 million-km (423 million-mile) from Earth .
The probe has sent back Mars photos of a flat landscape with few rocks
A Nasa spacecraft has sent back historic first Mars pictures of an unexplored region of Mars.
The probe is equipped with a robotic arm to dig for water-ice thought to be buried beneath the surface.
It will begin examining the site for evidence of the building blocks of life in the next few days.
It released a parachute, used pulsed thrusters to slow to a fast walking speed, and then descended the last few metres to the Martian soil to land on three legs.
Nasa found out more about the landing when Mars pictures from the probe reached the Earth.
The first Mars images showed the "Arctic plain" where Phoenix came to rest - a region of Mars that has never been seen up close before.
Other Mars pics confirmed that the probe's solar arrays had unfurled successfully, and that it had landed safely on its legs.
Earlier Mars Pictures from NASA Probes:
Mars Photo
The intriguing Mars image captured by earlier Nasa Probe
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