Phoenix Mars Mission a Governor’s Innovation Award Finalist

Innovator of the Year Award winners will be presented Nov. 13 during the governor's Celebration of Innovation gala.

The Phoenix Mars Mission has been named a finalist for the Arizona Governor's Celebration of Innovation's Innovator of the Year Award in the academia category. The Phoenix Mars Mission was selected as the 2007 Innovator of the Year in the same category.

The Innovator of the Year Awards will be presented Nov. 13 at a gala at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix. The annual awards event, which honors technology and innovation leaders statewide, also includes a technology showcase featuring the finalists' innovations.

"We were thrilled to have been honored by the Governor's Celebration of Innovation last year. Our mission to Mars this year has definitely demonstrated the innovative capabilities of the entire Phoenix Mars team," said Peter Smith, the Phoenix mission's principal investigator and senior research scientist at The University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.  "Basing the mission at The University of Arizona has showcased the state's leadership in planetary exploration."

The award in the Academia category is presented to a department or office within an accredited higher education institution that has achieved success in the past calendar year and which has contributed to the economic development within Arizona through teaching, research or other academic pursuits.

The UA is the first public university to lead a mission to Mars.

In its sixth year, the Governor's Celebration of Innovation is the largest statewide awards gathering of technology companies in Arizona that recognizes companies, individuals and academic organizations that demonstrate excellence in innovative technological advancement.

The Governor's Celebration of Innovation is presented by the Arizona Technology Council and the Arizona Department of Commerce.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith with project management at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.