[meteorite-list] NASA's Phoenix Lander Delivers Soil-Chemistry Sample

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 17:25:46 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200807090025.RAA27279_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-126

NASA's Phoenix Lander Delivers Soil-Chemistry Sample
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
July 07, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander used its Robotic Arm to
deliver a second sample of soil for analysis by the spacecraft's wet
chemistry laboratory, data received from Phoenix on Sunday night confirmed.

Results from testing this sample will be compared in coming days to the
results from the first Martian soil analyzed by the wet chemistry
laboratory two weeks ago. That laboratory is part of Phoenix's
Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer.

The main activity on the lander's schedule for today is testing a method
for scraping up a sample of icy material and getting it into the scoop
at the end of the Robotic Arm. Photography before, during and after the
process will allow evaluation of this method. If the test goes well, the
science team plans to use this method for gathering the next sample to
be delivered to Phoenix's bake-and-sniff instrument, the Thermal and
Evolved-Gas Analyzer.

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. For more about
Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Media contacts:
Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond at lpl.arizona.edu

2008-126
Received on Tue 08 Jul 2008 08:25:46 PM PDT