Phoenix Scrapes 'Almost Perfect' Icy Soil for Analysis (7/2/2008)
 |
| 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). 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. Snow White 5 is located in a patch of Martian soil near the center of a polygonal surface feature, nicknamed 'Cheshire Cat.' The digging site has been named 'Wonderland.' This image has been enhanced to brighten shaded areas. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute ) |
Samples hold clues to history of Martian water, climate and possible habitability.
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, or 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.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the University of Arizona
Post Comments:
| 
Subscribe
New species of ancient crocodile discovered
Kitchen gadget inspires scientist to make more effective plastic electronics
Making memories last
Ferroelectric switching discovered for first time in soft biological tissue
Forensic research extends detection of cyanide poisoning
Shakespeare's skill 'more in grammar than in words'
Detailed picture of how myoV 'walks' along actin tracks
Need muscle for a tough spot? Turn to fat stem cells
Earth's energy budget remained out of balance despite unusually low solar activity
What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?
Pictures of food create feelings of hunger
Mighty mesh
Sweeten up your profits with the right hybrid
Patterns of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in Galapagos reptiles
Bilayer graphene works as an insulator
How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel
Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?
Advantages of living in the dark: The multiple evolution events of 'blind' cavefish
Snakes improve search-and-rescue robots
Enhancing cognition in older adults also changes personality
Magnetic actuation enables nanoscale thermal analysis
A new artificial intelligence technique to speed the planning of tasks when resources are limited
'Tiger mothers' should tame parenting approach
Film coatings made from whey
Growing US violent extremism by the numbers
If a fat tax is coming, here's how to make it efficient, effective
Bobsled runs -- fast and yet safe
Fruit fly intestine may hold secret to the fountain of youth
Vesta likely cold and dark enough for ice
Rice lab mimics Jupiter's Trojan asteroids inside a single atom
The wild early lives of today's most massive galaxies
Catching a comet death on camera
Our explosive sun
Curiosity rover will serve as terramechanics instrument in explortation of Martian soils
The helix in new colors
Calculating what's in the universe from the biggest color 3-D map
Hubble breaks new ground with discovery of distant exploding star
Discovery of the smallest exoplanets: The Barnard's star connection