[meteorite-list] Phoenix Scrapes to Icy Soil in Wonderland

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix/release.php?ArticleID=1768

Phoenix Scrapes to Icy Soil in Wonderland
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
June 27, 2008

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 scientists are now assured they have a complete soil-layer
profile in Wonderland's "Snow White" extended trench.

By rasping to icy soil, the robotic arm on Phoenix proved it could
flatten the layer where soil meets ice, exposing the icy flat surface
below the soil. Scientists can now proceed with plans to scoop and
scrape samples into Phoenix's various analytical instruments. Scientists
will test samples to determine if some ice in the soil may have been
liquid in the past during warmer climate cycles.

It's another encouraging step to meeting Phoenix mission goals, which
are to study the history of Martian water in all its phases and
determine if the Martian arctic soil could support life.

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona
with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed
Martin, located in Denver. International contributions come from the
Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the
universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute,
Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For more about
Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.


Media contacts:
Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond at lpl.arizona.edu