Phoenix is a robotic spacecraft which will be used for a space exploration mission to Mars. The scientists conducting the mission will use instruments aboard the Phoenix lander to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars, and to research the history of water there. Phoenix is scheduled to launch on August 3, 2007, and land on Mars in May 2008. The multi-agency program is headed by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, under the direction of NASA. The program is a partnership of universities from the US, Canada, Switzerland and Germany, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the aerospace industry. Phoenix will land in the planet's water-ice-rich northern polar region and will use its robotic arm to dig into the arctic terrain.