Engineers assemble NASA’s next spacecraft bound for the red planet: The Phoenix Mars Lander.

This recently released photograph shows engineers poring over Phoenix during a September session, when the lander was still only partially assembled at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado.

Here, the spacecraft has deployed its fan-like solar arrays for testing.

Slated to launch in August 2007, the Phoenix Mars Lander is bound for the red planet’s north polar region, where a permanent ice cap covers the Martian terrain. The probe is designed to study the history of water at its landing site, monitor the polar climate and dig into the surface to sift for any carbon-bearing compounds.

• Phoenix Mars Lander: Getting Down and Dirty On the Red Planet
• Complete Coverage: NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
• All About Mars

-- SPACE.com Staff

Credit: NASA/JPL/UA/Lockheed Martin