At the Phoenix prelaunch news conference, NASA’s Launch Director Chuck Dovale said the launch team is ready to go for Saturday’s early morning liftoff. Weather Officer Joel Tumbiolo reports favorable conditions for launch time, with only a 20 percent chance of weather preventing liftoff. The forecast calls for scattered clouds, light ground and upper-level winds, and good visibility.
The launch preparations got back on track after a one-day delay because of severe weather in the vicinity of the launch pad on Tuesday that prevented the Delta II launch team from completing the fueling of the rocket’s second stage.
The Phoenix Mars lander’s assignment is to dig through the Martian soil and ice in the arctic region and use its onboard scientific instruments to analyze the samples it retrieves.