Phoenix Mars Lander launched 2007

The Phoenix, NASA's Mars lander, was launched August 4, 2007.  It landed on the Red Planet May 25, 2008 to search for microbial life and and to research the history of water.  Phoenix was the first successful landing in Mars' polar region. 

It completed its mission in August 2008 and made one last communication November 2, as the Martian winter approached.  Subsequent attempts to contact the lander via the Mars Odyssey orbiter failed and the mission concluded on May 12, 2010. 

The mission was considered to be successful since it completed all its tasks.

Phoenix Mars Lander launched 2007

Phoenix Mars Lander, launched August 4, 2007, was the first successful landing of a spacecraft on Mars' north polar region.  It took 10 months to travel to Mars and is the first mission to the Red Planet to be led by a public university, University of Arizona in Tucson.  The Phoenix is a partnership of universities in the U.S., Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, the UK, NASA, the Candian Space Agency and Finnish Meteorological Institute.

It landed May 25, 2008 and completed its mission in  August but continued until November, when  the Martian winter set in.  NASA hoped it  would survive but as of May 2010 contact could not be re-established so Jet Propulsion Laboratory declared it dead.  Since Phoenix completed all of its goals, it has been considered a success.

One surprise was the observation of snow from cirrus clouds.  It had  to be water-ice because the Martian atmosphere and temperatures are not favorable for carbon dioxide ice to form.