Phoenix Makes First Trench In Science Reserve

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander began digging in an area called Wonderland early Tuesday, taking his first ground ball from a polygonal surface feature within the national park region, the mission scientists were for the preservation of science.

The lander's robot arm created the new test trench called Snow White, 17 On June 22nd Martian day, or Sol, after the Phoenix spacecraft landed on 25 May. New planned academic activities will resume no earlier than 24 Sol as engineers examine how the spacecraft handling is greater than expected amounts of data.

During the dig Tuesday, the arm may not reach the hard white material, possibly ice, that Phoenix suspended earlier in the first trench dug into the Martian soil.

That is exactly what the scientists expected, and both wanted. The Snow White trench is located near the middle of a relatively flat hummock or polygon, the name Cheshire Cat, where scientists predict it will take more or thick layers of soil above ground possible white material.

The Snow White trench is about two centimeters deep and 30 centimetres long. The Phoenix-team plans at least another day of digging deeper into the ditch Snow White.

It will examine the soil structure in the Snow White trench to decide at what depth they collect samples from a trench future, around the middle of the polygon.

Meanwhile, the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument will continue its ongoing experiment in the first of its eight furnaces.

TEGA has eight separate small ovens to bake and sniff the earth to seek volatile components, such as water. The baking takes place in three different temperature areas.