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Phoenix Team Retesting Scoop's Release of Martian Soil

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The Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager captured a sequence of two images on Sols 6 and 7 – the sixth and seventh days of the mission, Sunday and Monday. Both images show an area to the west of the digging site informally known as "Knave of Hearts." In the second image (above), a small handful of Martian soil that has been released from the Robotic Arm to the surface is between Phoenix's arm, lower left, and the arm's shadow. The released soil is darker than the surrounding soil. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University)

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(Click to enlarge) This view from the Robotic Arm Camera on the Phoenix Mars Lander shows partial opening of doors to one of the tiny ovens of the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer. Each oven has a pair of spring-loaded doors. Near the center of the image, the partial opening of a pair of doors reveals a screen over the opening where a soil sample will be delivered. The door to the right is fully opened and the one to the left is partly deployed. The doors are 10 centimeters (4 inches) long. The opening is 4 centimeters (1.5 inches) wide. Tests on the Phoenix testbed at the UA indicate that a soil sample could be delivered into the oven through the partially opened doors. Engineers are also exploring possibilities for opening the doors more completely. This image was taken during Phoenix's eighth Martian day, Monday. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute)

The Phoenix operations team will do one more test dig on Mars.


By University Communications
June 3, 2008

Engineers and scientists operating the Phoenix Mars Lander decided early today to repeat a practice of releasing Martian soil from the scoop on the lander's robotic arm.

When the lander collected and released its first scoopful of soil on Sunday, some of the sample stuck to the scoop. The team told Phoenix this morning to lift another surface sample and release it, with more extensive imaging of the steps in the process.

"We are proceeding cautiously," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of The University of Arizona. "Before we begin delivering samples to the instruments on the deck, we want a good understanding of how the soil behaves."

An image of one of the analytical instruments received Monday night underscored the need for precise release of samples. It shows the two spring-loaded doors on one of the tiny ovens of the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer after a command for them to open in preparation for receiving the instrument's first soil sample. One opened fully, the other partly. Phoenix engineers said the opening is wide enough to receive a sample, and that it might still open further with daily temperature changes.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the UA on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, located in Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, located in Denver.

 

 

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