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Mars Lander Letterbox LbNA #40709 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Jun 7, 2008
Location:
City:Tucson
County:Pima
State:Arizona
Boxes:1
Planted by:The Pink Ladies
Found by: Little My
Last found:May 26, 2009
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFa
Last edited:Jun 7, 2008
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: Short
Hand-carved Stamp
Number of boxes: 1

History:
The planet Mars is a cold desert planet with no liquid water on its surface. But in the Martian arctic, water ice lurks just below ground level. Discoveries made by the Mars Odyssey Orbiter in 2002 show large amounts of subsurface water ice in the northern arctic plain. In August 2007, The University of Arizona (UA) became the first public university to lead a mission to mars. (Be sure to check out the Mars-Cat Letterbox.) Who cares and why all the fuss? Because Phoenix will be the first mission to return data from either polar region providing an important contribution to the overall Mars science strategy "Follow the Water" and will be instrumental in achieving the four science goals of NASA's long-term Mars Exploration Program.
--Determine whether Life ever arose on Mars
--Characterize the Climate of Mars
--Characterize the Geology of Mars
--Prepare for Human Exploration

The Phoenix Mars Lander will target the circumpolar region using a robotic arm to dig through the protective top soil layer to the water ice below and ultimately bring both soil and water ice to the lander platform for sophisticated scientific analysis.

In celebration of the May 25, 2008 picture-perfect landing on the red planet, a distance of 171 million miles from Earth, the UA hosted a celebration on campus and invited the community to the Kuiper Space Sciences building for an afternoon of tours, telescope viewing and hands-on science activities. And now The Pink Ladies would like to invite you to campus to discover the Mars Lander Letterbox.

TO THE BOX:
Make your way to the front steps of the Kuiper Space Sciences building on the campus of The University of Arizona. Stand at the concrete bench on the left of the stairs. Now look to your left and you will see a plaque in front of a tree at 30 degrees.

The plaque describes the Bicentennial Moon Seed Tree, a sycamore, planted on April 30, 1976. The tree is part of the space programs legacy. Apollo 14 launched in the late afternoon of January 31, 1971 on what was to be our third trip to the lunar surface. Five days later Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell walked on the Moon while Stuart Roosa, a former U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper, orbited above in the command module. Packed in small containers in Roosa's personal kit were hundreds of tree seeds, part of a joint NASA/USFS project. Upon return to Earth, the seeds were germinated by the Forest Service. Known as the "Moon Trees", the resulting seedlings were planted throughout the United States (often as part of the nation's bicentennial in 1976) and the world. They stand as a tribute to astronaut Roosa and the Apollo program.

Go to the plaque. Directly to your right is a 4 ft. tall hedge. Go to the north end of the hedge and look behind it, next to the concrete wall. The box is hidden beneath some rocks and plant debris.