Polar Region of Mars

Spacecraft Reveals Look at Mars

NASA's newest outpost in the solar system is a polygon-cracked terrain in Mars' northern polar region believed to hold a reservoir of ice beneath.Hours after the Phoenix Mars Lander softly landed Sunday in the Martian arctic plains, it dazzled scientists with the first-ever glimpse of the Red Planet's high northern latitudes. The flood of images sent back by Phoenix revealed a landscape similar to what can be found in Earth's permafrost regions — geometric patterns in the soil likely related to the freezing and thawing of ground ice.