apod
06-08-08, 01:14 PM
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0806/scoop_phoenix.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0806/scoop_phoenix_big.jpg) Mars Soil Sample Ready to Analyze
Credit: Phoenix Mission Team (http://fawkes4.lpl.arizona.edu/index.php), NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/), JPL-Caltech (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/), U. Arizona (http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/)
Explanation: What surprises are hidden in the soils of Mars? To help find out, the Phoenix Lander Phoenix Lander (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_%28spacecraft%29) which arrived on Mars two weeks ago has attempted to place (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/) a scoop of soil in Phoenix's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/science_tega.php) (TEGA). Pictured above (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10774), the dirt-filled scoop approaches one of TEGA's eight ovens. Once in the oven, a soil material will be baked and the emitted gasses categorized by a mass spectrometer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_spectrometry). Quite possibly, some of the light colored material visible in the scoop has the same composition as the light material (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080602.html) imaged near the foot of the Lander (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080525.html), which may be ice. Phoenix (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/) is scheduled to spend the next three months digging, baking and chemically analyzing its immediate surroundings to better understand Mars (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/science03.php) and whether the boundary between ice and soil was ever capable of supporting life.
Source (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080608.html)
Credit: Phoenix Mission Team (http://fawkes4.lpl.arizona.edu/index.php), NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/), JPL-Caltech (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/), U. Arizona (http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/)
Explanation: What surprises are hidden in the soils of Mars? To help find out, the Phoenix Lander Phoenix Lander (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_%28spacecraft%29) which arrived on Mars two weeks ago has attempted to place (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/) a scoop of soil in Phoenix's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/science_tega.php) (TEGA). Pictured above (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10774), the dirt-filled scoop approaches one of TEGA's eight ovens. Once in the oven, a soil material will be baked and the emitted gasses categorized by a mass spectrometer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_spectrometry). Quite possibly, some of the light colored material visible in the scoop has the same composition as the light material (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080602.html) imaged near the foot of the Lander (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080525.html), which may be ice. Phoenix (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/) is scheduled to spend the next three months digging, baking and chemically analyzing its immediate surroundings to better understand Mars (http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/science03.php) and whether the boundary between ice and soil was ever capable of supporting life.
Source (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080608.html)