After traveling for almost 10 months, the Mars Phoenix Lander successfully landed on the Red Planet Sunday on a mission to explore signs of life, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. With a speed of 13,000 mph when it reached the Martian atmosphere, the Phoenix Lander achieved a three-legged touchdown near Mars' north pole with the help of a parachute and pulsing retro rockets to slow down the spacecraft. Day one appears to have been relatively successful for the Phoenix Mars Lander.

Scientists say new pictures sent back from the northern polar region of Mars indicate most of the lander's science instruments are in good health. The one hitch so far happened when the protective sheath around the trench-digging robotic arm failed to unwrap all the way after touchdown. It now covers the arm's elbow joint. Scientists plan to start the process of un-stowing the arm today, but it could take an extra day to fully stretch it out. They call that merely an inconvenience. The probe, built in Denver by Lockheed Martin Corporation, will dig into the soil using its 8-foot-long arm to reach ice believed to be buried at least a few inches -- perhaps up to a foot -- deep.