This is it! The Phoenix Mars Lander has finally reached its destination, after a successful first-attempt landing in the northern permafrost region of the Red Planet. As it prepares for a three-month journey into the secrets of Mars, scientists have already received images of the flat valley floor that they expect so much from.

The mission’s team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lockheed Martin Space Systems and the University of Arizona confirmed the landing at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time. It took 15 minutes for the radio signals to reach Earth, after a 15-minute journey (171 million miles separate our planet from Mars).

Scientists decided on Saturday not to intervene on Phoenix’s trajectory eight hours before landing, considering all adjustments to the flight path to be unnecessary. The Mars Lander was 8 miles off the center of the targeted landing area.

This has been one of the five successful attempts to land on Mars, Ed Weller, NASA associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Washington said, adding that in exploring the universe, scientists need to accept risks in order to achieve great scientific rewards.

Two hours after Phoenix reached its target, it also sent the first pictures from Mars, which confirmed that the mission’s energy supply had successfully unfolded, and masts for the stereo camera and weather station had swung into vertical position.

The weather station will provide information on the atmospheric processes in the Martian arctic region, while the two-wing solar array will convert solar radiation to electricity.

With the help of advanced instruments onboard, Phoenix will try to answer one question that has been haunting specialists and astronomy enthusiasts alike: is life on Mars an element in the past and possibly in the future of the Red Planet?

The mission, which will stretch over 90 Martian days, or 92 Earth days, will start at a site in the north region of the planet, established at 68 degrees north latitude, 233 degrees east longitude, at temperatures of minus 73 C to minus 33 C (minus 100 F to minus 28 F).

It will be for the first time when a Mars mission reaches so far north, with the clear purpose of determining whether the Red Planet is a setting for past or future forms of life. The Mars Lander will examine the soil in place at the surface, at the icy layer and in between, and will take samples for analysis.

Considering that the two previous Mars Missions went from being guests on the Red Planet for 90 days to becoming residents for about four years, the Phoenix is also expected to cross the 90-day objective and stay for a few more weeks, maybe even months, depending on how well the mission goes.

This mission in particular will be very challenging, considering that everyone expects Phoenix to confirm pro-Martian life theories and infirm the pessimistic approach according to which life on Mars has only “a ghost of a chance.”

Scientists hope to establish whether carbon-based elements are present on this planet, and whether the ice ever melts here, in response to long-term climate cycles, which would create the premises for life on Mars.