Monday, June 02, 2008

 

PHOENIX SCOOPS MARS


Phoenix has landed on Mars and begun to scoop the Martian soil, to test for possible water ice and organic material under the surface.

Here are some pictures from Mars, from
NASA.

POSSIBLE ICE TABLE AT PHOENIX LANDING SITE






This image captured by the Robotic Arm Camera aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander on Sol 6, the sixth Martian day of the mission, (May 31, 2008) shows a close-up of the "Snow Queen" feature under the lander.

Swept clear of surface dust by the thruster rockets as Phoenix landed, the area has a smooth surface with layers visible and several smooth, rounded cavities.

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

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute


MARTIAN SOIL IN PHOENIX SCOOP




This image from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Robotic Arm Camera (RAC) shows material from the Martian surface captured by the Robotic Arm (RA) scoop during its first test dig and dump on the seventh Martian day of the mission, or Sol 7 (June 1, 2008). The test sample shown was taken from the digging area informally known as "Knave of Hearts."

Scientists speculate that the white patches on the right side of the image could possibly be ice or salts that precipitated into the soil. Scientists also speculate that this white material is probably the same material seen in previous images from under the lander in which an upper surface of an ice table was observed. The color for this image was acquired by illuminating the RA scoop with a set of red, green, and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute

PHOENIX LANDING




Here's a picture, (2008-05-26) of the Phoenix Lander parachuting down to Mars, in this image captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Labels: , , ,


Comments: Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

TWITTER UPDATES:

    follow me on Twitter


    QPORIT --
    Quick PREVIEWS Of Random Interesting Things

     
    (c) Copyright 2005-2009 Eric H. Roffman
    All rights reserved