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Mission engineers were honored for leadership in rocketry and astronautics.

By Lori Stiles, University Communications
October 23, 2008

The National Space Club has awarded NASA's Phoenix Mars Mission, led by The University of Arizona, its 2008 Astronautics Engineer Award.

Barry Goldstein of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory accepted the award on behalf of the Phoenix team at the 20th annual Wernher von Braun Memorial Dinner held at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center's Davidson Center for Space Exploration in Huntsville, Ala.

The event honors the memory of von Braun, one of the most important rocket developers and champions of space exploration from the 1930s to the 1970s. The Huntsville chapter of the National Space Club, which sponsors the ceremony, presents awards to recognize individuals and groups who have made significant contributions to space exploration.

The Astronautics Engineer Award, established in 1991, is presented to scientists and engineers who have made outstanding contributions to United States leadership in the field of rocketry and astronautics.

"It's appropriate that Phoenix Mission project manager Barry Goldstein accepted the award on behalf of the Phoenix team," said Peter Smith of the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Phoenix Mission principal investigator. "Barry represents Phoenix's team of astronautics engineers who showed true excellence in engineering that got the spacecraft through cruise to the surface of Mars and through the operations portion of the mission so perfectly."

"This award recognizes that our team really met the ideals of the von Braun legacy," Smith added, "and it's apt because von Braun planned to follow his work in rocketry that landed men on the moon with work that would land humans on Mars."

The Phoenix Mars Lander reached the northern plains of Mars on May 25, 2008, where it since has been studying the Martian arctic for evidence of past liquid water, habitability and the current climate and atmosphere. Robotic laboratory instruments have sniffed and tasted the Martian soil and ice for their chemical and mineral properties.  Phoenix's cameras have returned more than 25,000 images of Mars.

Earlier this month, the Phoenix Mars Mission was the recipient of a 2008 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award for innovation. In November, Phoenix also will be presented the 2008 Civil Space Award from the California Space Authority. The mission previously won the 2007 Arizona Governor's Innovation Award in the academia category.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith of UA with project management at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.