[meteorite-list] NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Extending Trench

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:51:27 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200807160051.RAA26545_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-131

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Extending Trench
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
July 14, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is using its Robotic Arm to
enlarge an exposure of hard subsurface material expected to yield a
sample of ice-rich soil for analysis in one of the lander's ovens.

The trench was about 20 by 30 centimeters (8 by 12 inches) after work by
the arm on Saturday. The team sent commands today to extend the longer
dimension by about 15 centimeters (6 inches).

Experiments with a near-duplicate of the lander in Tucson during the
past week indicate that the bigger surface is needed to allow steps
planned for collecting an icy sample from the Martian trench informally
named "Snow White."

"Right now, there is not enough real estate of dark icy soil in the
trench to do a sample acquisition test and later a full-up acquisition"
for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, said Ray Arvidson, Phoenix's
"dig czar," from Washington University in St. Louis. The arm's rasp will
kick the icy soil into the scoop through a special capture mechanism,
and scientists also want to scoop up any loose material left in the
trench from the rasping activity, Arvidson said.

Samples of shallower, non-icy soil from the Snow White trench have
already been examined in Phoenix's wet chemistry laboratory and optical
microscope, and a fork-like probe has checked how well nearby soil
conducts electricity and heat.

"The Phoenix science team is working diligently to analyze the results
of the tests from these various instruments," said Phoenix principal
investigator Peter Smith. "The preliminary signatures we are seeing are
intriguing. Before we release results, we want to verify that our
interpretations are correct by conducting laboratory tests."

As the Robotic Arm was extracting the fork-like conductivity probe from
the soil on Saturday, the arm contacted a rock called "Alice," near the
"Snow White" trenching area. The arm is programmed to stop activity when
it encounters an obstacle. The team assessed the arm's status on Sunday
and decided to resume use of the arm on Monday. Today's commands call
for the Robotic Arm to move away from the rock, dump out soil that is in
the scoop and extend the Snow White trench approximately 15 centimeters
(6 inches) toward the lander.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith of the University of Arizona with
project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed
Martin, 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. 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

2008-131
Received on Tue 15 Jul 2008 08:51:27 PM PDT