Phoenix Scrapes to Icy Soil in Wonderland

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 30, 2008 | 4.1 / 5 (7) | 1

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander scraped to icy soil in the "Wonderland" area on Thursday, June 26, confirming that surface soil, subsurface soil and icy soil can be sampled at a single trench.

Phoenix Scoops Up Martian Soil

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 02, 2008 | 4.2 / 5 (30) | 7

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.

Phoenix Scrapes 'Almost Perfect' Icy Soil for Analysis

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jul 01, 2008 | 4.2 / 5 (22) | 8

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander enlarged the "Snow White" trench and scraped up little piles of icy soil on Saturday, June 28, the 33rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Scientists say that the scrapings are ...

More Soil Delivered to Phoenix Lander Lab

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Sep 17, 2008 | 3.2 / 5 (6) | 3

Scientists working on the Phoenix Mars Mission are analyzing soil delivered to the spacecraft's Wet Chemistry Laboratory.

Phoenix Lander Has An Oven Full Of Martian Soil

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 11, 2008 | 4.7 / 5 (29) | 2

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has filled its first oven with Martian soil. "We have an oven full," Phoenix co-investigator Bill Boynton of the University of Arizona, Tucson, said today. "It took 10 seconds to ...

Phoenix Vibrates Soil on Oven Door

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 09, 2008 | 3.6 / 5 (7) | 2

This animation shows a sample of Martian soil resting on a screen over the opening to one of the eight ovens of the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument on Phoenix. After vibration, the soil slumped ...

Mars probe Phoenix flexes robotic arm

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

May 29, 2008 | 4 / 5 (9) | 0

NASA's Phoenix Mars lander flexed its robotic arm Thursday in a successful test of the key element in the probe's mission to investigate the Red Planet's soil for conditions conducive to life, NASA said.

Phoenix Gets Bonus Soil Sample

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Oct 20, 2008 | 3.5 / 5 (11) | 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Mars Phoenix Lander's robotic arm successfully delivered soil into oven six of the lander's thermal and evolved-gas analyzer (TEGA) on Monday, Oct. 13, or Martian day (sol) 137 of the ...

Phoenix Mars Lander Will Sprinkle Martian Soil for Microscope to View

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 10, 2008 | 3.3 / 5 (3) | 0

The team operating NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander plans to instruct the spacecraft in the next few days to use its Robotic Arm to sprinkle a spoonful of Martian soil onto a wheel that will rotate the sample into ...

Soil Studies Continue at Site of Phoenix Mars Lander

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Aug 11, 2008 | 3.7 / 5 (3) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has continued studies of its landing site by widening a trench, making overnight measurements of conductivity in the Martian soil and depositing a sample of surface ...

Analysis Begins on Deepest Martian Soil Sample

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Sep 02, 2008 | 4.5 / 5 (6) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have begun to analyze a sample of soil delivered to NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's wet chemistry experiment from the deepest trench dug so far in the Martian arctic plains. Phoenix ...

Scientists prepare for Mars experiments

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 18, 2007 | 3.3 / 5 (3) | 0

U.S. scientists are trying to determine the affect the Phoenix Mars Lander's descent will have on later soil experiments on the Red Planet.

Phoenix Lander Prepares for Microscopy, Wet Chemistry on Mars

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jun 24, 2008 | 3.7 / 5 (7) | 1

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has delivered a scoop of Martian soil from the "Snow White" trenches to the optical microscope for analysis tomorrow, June 24, the 29th Martian day of the mission, or Sol 29.

Many characteristics of Mars, including ice, are similar to Earth

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jul 02, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (4) | 2

Mars gets as far as 250 million miles away, but many parts of it closely resemble places on Earth, including its landscape, history of water, soil and even its weather, says a Texas A&M University researcher ...

Patterns in Mars crater floors give picture of drying lakes

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Sep 16, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (6) | 0

Networks of giant polygonal troughs etched across crater basins on Mars have been identified as desiccation cracks caused by evaporating lakes, providing further evidence of a warmer, wetter martian past.  ...