We’re only days away from Phoenix’s encounter with the Red Planet, and all we can think of now is what incredible mysteries about that planet are about to be revealed. There is one clear mission that NASA’s Mars Lander has, and that is to either give hope or eliminate the idea that life on Mars is possible.

The mission will stretch over 90 Martian days, the equivalent of 92 Earth days, at temperatures of minus 73 C to minus 33 C (minus 100 F to minus 28 F) and will start at a site in the north region of the planet. Beyond the soil and icy layer, scientists expect to determine whether this permafrost region, covering as much as 25 percent of the Martian surface, is habitable, as Peter Smith, Phoenix principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson pointed out.

The theories regarding the Red Planet are contradictory, and while some give hope that life could exist beyond Earth, others reduce this possibility to almost nothing. Everything now comes down to finding two essential compounds of life forms: carbon and water.

Earlier this year, scientists warned that NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity missions have uncovered what they called a “life-threatening fact” on the Red Planet: the high concentrations of minerals constitute a harsh environment even for the toughest microbes, which is why they considered the life-on-Mars theory to have only “a ghost of a chance.”

Phoenix’s mission is to hopefully prove them wrong, and establish whether conditions on the exploration site have ever been favorable to microbial life. Moreover, the Mars Lander will try to establish the presence of carbon-based elements and whether the ice ever melts here, in response to long-term climate cycles.

With the help of instruments onboard, Phoenix will check for water and carbon-containing compounds by heating soil samples and examining the resulted vapors. This will be a key element in establishing if the Red Planet is a setting for past or future forms of life.