Phoenix Scrapes Almost Perfect Icy Soil For Analysis

MARSDAILY

This image was acquired by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Robotic Arm Camera on the 35th Martian day of the mission, or Sol 34 (June 29, 2008), after the May 25, 2008, landing. This image shows the trench informally called "Snow White 5." The trench is 4-to-5 centimeters (about 1.5-to-1.9 inches) deep, 24 centimeters (about 9 inches) wide and 33 centimeters (13 inches) long. Snow White 5 is Phoenix's current active digging area after additional trenching, grooming, and scraping by Phoenix's Robotic Arm in the last few sols to trenches informally called Snow White 1, 2, 3, and 4. Near the top center of the image is the Robotic Arm's Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute

by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 02, 2008
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander enlarged the "Snow White" trench and scraped up little piles of icy soil on Saturday, June 28, the 33rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Scientists say that the scrapings are ideal for the lander's analytical instruments.

The robotic arm on Phoenix used the blade on its scoop to make 50 scrapes in the icy layer buried under subsurface soil. The robotic arm then heaped the scrapings into a few 10- to 20-cubic centimeter piles, or piles each containing between two and four teaspoonfuls. Scraping created a grid about two millimeters deep.

The scientists saw the scrapings in Surface Stereo Imager images on Sunday, June 29, agreed they had "almost perfect samples of the interface of ice and soil," and commanded the robotic arm to pick up some scrapings for instrument analysis.

The scoop will sprinkle the fairly fine-grained material first onto the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA). The instrument has tiny ovens to bake and sniff the soil to assess its volatile ingredients, such as water. It can determine the melting point of ice.

Phoenix's overall goals are to: dig to water frozen under subsurface soil, touch, examine, vaporize and sniff the soil and ice to discover the history of water on Mars, determine if the Martian arctic soil could support life, and study Martian weather from a polar perspective.

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

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS
Solar Energy Solutions
Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ...

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

MARSDAILY

Phoenix Scrapes To Icy Soil In Wonderland

Tucson AZ (SPX) Jun 30, 2008
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander scraped to icy soil in the "Wonderland" area on Thursday, June 26, confirming that surface soil, subsurface soil and icy soil can be sampled at a single trench.

AEROSPACE China's new turboprop rolls off production line: official media European airlines angered by EU 'CO2 tax' China to roll out new turboprop plane: report IATA head slams EU plans to include aviation in emissions trading	CAR TECH 'E-jeepneys' make debut on Philippine capital's roads New Austrian laws promote eco-friendly cars Mazda sees hydrogen cars available on large scale by 2020 at best WTF... abbreviation on car plates makes Americans blush
MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS Raytheon Achieves UK Intelligence Integration Milestone SeaMobile Awarded Contract With United States General Services Administration DARPA Research Project To Advance Radar And Communications Systems Raytheon Awarded DARPA Contract To Increase System Information Assurance	MISSILE DEFENSE US warns Poland it could turn elsewhere for missile talks Raytheon Participates In Key Satellite Payload Trade Study Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Radar Successful In Missile Defense Test BMD Focus: Sarkozy's vision -- Part 2
FARM NEWS Growth hormone in dairy cows a greenhouse-gas plus: study Nearly 2 mln without livelihood after China quake: state press Wool Proves Its Worth In Respirator Market Early Origins Of Maize In Mexico	DISASTER MANAGEMENT Australia, Japan, US plan disaster relief exercises US helicopters lift aid to typhoon-ravaged Philippines AIDS epidemic is disaster like drought, floods for Africa: Red Cross Bangladesh steps up earthquake response plans
TECH SPACE SATLYNX Completes 300 Site SCADA Network Rollout For EDF Energy Herschel Undergoes Acoustic And Vibration Tests Russian-US Launch Firm To Put Satellite In Orbit In August BAE Computers To Manage Data Processing For Satellite Missions	ROBO SPACE Three Engineers, Hundreds of Robots, One Warehouse Tartalo The Robot Is Knocking On Your Door Sega, Hasbro unveil new dancing robot Japanese Companies Unite To Bring Robots To The Home

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement