OK, I admit it: I’m a Marsaholic. We’ve been following the mission and writing about it for the magazine. You’ve probably seen the various headlines: Phoenix lands safely; Phoenix confirms water in martian soil; Phoenix detects perchlorate chemicals in martian soil; and, finally, Phoenix runs low on power and shuts down. So what’s this all going to come to?

When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, dreams of future Mars exploration inspired and excited a lot of people, including me. I suppose we all thought people would be knocking around Mars by now, but instead, we keep throwing hardware at the Red Planet. When the headlines fade from memory, it’s easy to forget the real value of these missions.

Phoenix cost around $400 million. That’s some serious cash to most of us, but compared to the numbers racking up now to prepare for the return of astronauts to the Moon and — maybe — Mars, $400 million is chump change. What do we get for it?

On my end of the world, the answer comes in the form of scientific reports and studies that keep trickling in for years after every major Mars mission. Every 26 months or so, when the planetary alignments are favorable, we throw another piece of hardware at Mars — an orbiter, a lander, whatever. Next batter up: a mobile interplanetary chemistry set called the Mars Science Laboratory, slated for launch in 2009.

The Phoenix mission is now transitioning quietly from the exploration phase to the data-analysis phase. The laboratories aboard Phoenix gathered a great deal of data on the martian soil and atmosphere. What will it tell us? I don’t know yet, but when we find out, we’ll let you know.

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