Exhaust from the Boeing Delta II rocket with the Mars Polar Lander aboard lights up the clouds as it hurtles skyward from the Cape Canaveral Air Station. The lander was a solar-powered spacecraft designed to touch down on the Martian surface near the northern-most boundary of the south polar cap, which consists of carbon dioxide ice. The lander was going to study the polar water cycle, frosts, water vapor, condensates and dust in the Martian atmosphere. Unfortunately, after executing the landing sequence on Mars, it failed to resume communication. Analysis suggests that the jolt of deployment of the landing legs was mistaken by the probe as touchdown on the surface. Credit: NASA | c. 1999 #NASA #Mars #MarsMonday