Martian Summer: Robot Arms, Cowboy Spacemen, and My 90 Days with the Phoenix Mars Mission

Spend a summer exploring the Martian Arctic—something that has taken nearly the entirety of human knowledge to achieve.The Phoenix Mars Mission was the first man-made probe ever sent to the Martian Arctic. They wanted to find out how climate change can turn a warm, wet planet (read: Earth) into a cold, barren desert (read: Mars). Some might call it a trivial pursuit, but it’s probably the most impressive feat we humans can achieve, and it took the culmination of nearly the entirety of human know…