UA News

The bell is tolled each month during the academic year to recognize faculty, staff, students and alumni for their achievements.

The bell of the USS Arizona was rung today to honor Peter Smith, principal investigator for the Phoenix Mars Mission.

The bell – which is rung only on significant occasions in the life of the UA – is tolled at the Student Union Memorial Center on the third Wednesday of each month during the academic year to recognize faculty, staff, students and alumni for achievements that bring prestige and recognition to themselves and the University.

As the Phoenix Mars Mission principal investigator, Smith, of the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, was responsible for all aspects of the NASA mission to put the Phoenix Mars Lander on the Red Planet. The Phoenix – which launched Aug. 4, 2007, and landed on Mars on May 25, 2008 – spent five months researching Martian soil.

The successful mission was intended, in part, to pave the way for future robotic missions and, possibly, human explorations.

Smith worked closely on a national and international level with NASA, the University of Texas-Dallas, the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland, the Max Planck Institute in Germany, Malin Space Science Systems, the Canadian Space Agency and many others. 

The bell was rung at 12:07 p.m. The time corresponds with the date that the battleship was sunk at Pearl Harbor: Dec. 7, 1941.

For more information, or to submit a nomination, visit the Outstanding University Achievements Web site.