NASA's Phoenix Spacecraft is due to land at the Martian North Pole in 21 days.
It will be a nail biting mission hours before it lands, as it has to turn into its correct orientation just minutes before landing, its onboard Radar will be avoiding the thousands of rocks in the final designated landing site.

The Phoenix lander will be landing on or close to the actual ice on Mars, that will be melting in the Martian Summer sun.
The lander will be testing and sampling actual water, making this lander very different from previous ones, which have only checked for the signs of water in the Martian distant past.

The Phoenix lander has an onboard Radar hazard detector coupled to its Hydrazine control nozzels, which should enable it to avoid the larger rocks, a couple of minutes before it lands.
After landing, and Solar panel deployment, Phoenix will probably be digging for up to 2.5 hours every Martian day.
Pity the Phoenix cannot move, on its telescopic legs.
It is expected to get covered in hoar frost every night.
Eventually it will check for human habitability

Check out the "live landing clock", and the latest news at-

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mars141.php

Can't wait...we wish it well

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"You will never find a real Human being - Even in a mirror." ....Mike Kremer.