Phoenix - Sol 9

A view of the ground underneath NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander adds to evidence that descent thrusters dispersed overlying soil and exposed a harder substrate that may be ice.

The image received from the spacecraft's Robotic Arm Camera shows patches of smooth and level surfaces beneath the thrusters.

"This suggests we have an ice table under a thin layer of loose soil," said the lead scientist for the Robotic Arm Camera, Horst Uwe Keller of Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany.

"We were expecting to find ice within two to six inches of the surface," said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, principal investigator for Phoenix. "The thrusters have excavated two to six inches and, sure enough, we see something that looks like ice. It's not impossible that it's something else, but our leading interpretation is ice."

One week after landing on far-northern Mars, NASA Phoenix spacecraft lifted its first scoop of Martian soil as a test of the lander's Robotic Arm.

The practice scoop was emptied onto a designated dump area on the ground after the Robotic Arm Camera photographed the soil inside the scoop. The Phoenix team plans to have the arm deliver its next scoopful, later this week, to an instrument that heats and sniffs the sample to identify ingredients.

A glint of bright material appears in the scooped up soil and in the hole from which it came. "That bright material might be ice or salt. We're eager to do testing of the next three surface samples collected nearby to learn more about it," said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, Phoenix co-investigator for the Robotic Arm.

The camera on the arm examined the lander's first scoop of Martian soil. "The camera has its own red, green and blue lights, and we combine separate images taken with different illumination to create color images," said the University of Arizona's Pat Woida, senior engineer on the Phoenix team.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Phoenix
• Mars
• Lander

[sent022]

Keep up with the videos. Loving the newest information from mars!

[kafka27]

very "high-tech" stuff here.. ffs, this is like stone-eage. we need about some 2-300 years to be enable to do some good reserch on this planet. zzZzzzZZz,,

[FilmPA]

I knew there was something interesting about today that changed. It's been a good couple thousand years that we have dreamed of seeing this. Congrats to Nasa. The only thing I hope happens is that the specs are double and quad-triple checked again and again and again before any samples are derived from the location. No one knows yet what this stuff is, and for all anyone knows it could all evaporate instantly. I wish the lander was equipped with an instantaneous sample testing arm. Maybe it does

[M0rbid84]

That Guy = mid to end of the clip

[M0rbid84]

I have no clue F*cken what that GUY is saying. >.>

[A1R5N1P3R]

Remote control exploration, I love it! How long before we have a manned mission? Any thoughts guys? BTW thx 4 the ul BTQ!

[philhellenes]

So far so good. :)