On Saturday morning, August 4th, 2007, NASA launched the Phoenix lander to Mars aboard a Delta II rocket. In addition to its payload of eight scientific instruments designed to search for ice in the polar regions of the Red Planet, Phoenix also carries a very special DVD.

The DVD, provided by the Planetary Society, has a collection of art, literature, and sounds, all celebrating humanity's fascination with the Red Planet. The collection includes the dedication plaque for the Starship Enterprise-D, as seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation. In Star Trek lore, each starship has a commemorative plaque on its bridge, indicating the ship's name, home port, and other important data. The plaque was designed by series graphic artist Michael Okuda. The plaque says that the Enterprise-D was (or will be) built at Starfleet's "Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards" on Mars. It is this connection to the Red Planet that earned the image a place in what has been described as the first library to be sent to Mars.

Other Star Trek connections to the "Visions of Mars" DVD include the voice of actor Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), introducing and narrating an audio segment titled "Mars Radio," and the cover painting for a 1975 issue of Analog Magazine by Star Trek senior illustrator Rick Sternbach. The collection also includes a poster for the 1964 Paramount film "Robinson Crusoe on Mars," as well as work by noted astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell, cosmonaut Alexi Leonov, science-fiction illustrator Frank Kelley Freas, and Chuck Jones, the "father" of cartoon character Duck Dodgers. The text portion of the collection includes works by Ray Bradbury, Carl Sagan, H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Original Series writer Theodore Sturgeon.

The disk was edited by noted space artist Jon Lomberg, who had previously worked on the famous "message from Earth" record carried by the Voyager space probes. Lomberg said that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry once told him that "people in science fiction have a kind of partnership with the space program. They supply the hardware. We provide the dreams."

The Phoenix spacecraft is expected to take 10 months to reach Mars. It is planned to land on May 25, 2008 in the Red Planet's northern polar region. If successful, Phoenix will use an 8-foot robotic arm to dig into the Martian soil to look for ice. Instruments on board Phoenix will analyze the ice to look for signs of organic compounds. It is part of NASA's long-term goal of determining if conditions on Mars were ever suitable for sustaining life.

For more information, you can check out the "Visions of Mars" collection. A list of art, recordings, and written works in the collection can be found here.

More information about the Phoenix lander and other NASA missions to Mars can be found here. Also, please see the Phoenix Mars Mission site for further information.

Also, be sure to check out the Planetary Society, a non-profit space advocacy group.

With thanks to Mike Okuda