Phoenix gets the first scoop of Martian soil by Zuzana Zelenakova

Phoenix is the name of a robotic spacecraft aimed for exploration mission on the red planet Mars. It is a part of the Mars Scout Program. Scientists want to use instruments carried by the spacecraft to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars. The project is being carried out by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona in the cooperation with NASA. There are also other universities around the world and aerospace companies involved. The landing of Phoenix on Mars is sixth successful landing on this planet. Basically its mission has two main goals, the first one is to study the geologic history of water, which would reveal the secret of past climate change, and the second is to find some habitable zone that may exist on the polar region. Phoenix was launched on 4 August 2007 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. One week after landing on Mars, Phoenix performed on 1 June the first dig of Martian soil as a test of the lander's Robotic Arm, which is designed to extend 2.35 m from the lander and has the ability to dig down 0.5 m below the surface. It took the samples of dirt and water-ice. Some kind of bright material came out of the hole where the arm was digging. “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 Ardvidson from Washington University in St. Louis, which participated on the development of Phoenix's Robotic Arm. The first scoop of Martian soil was examined by the camera on the arm. “The camera has its own red, green and blue lights, and we combine separate images taken with different illumination to create color images,” said Pat Woida of the University of Arizona, who is the senior engineer on the Phoenix team.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080602/ap_on_sc/phoenix_mars;_ylt=AqBnZMiH5lm39qXioPgveyGs0NUE

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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Edited by: Maria Zitnanska