Browse Archive
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NASA Spacecraft Analyzing Martian Soil Data
Scientists are analyzing results from soil samples delivered several weeks ago to science instruments on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander to understand the landing site's soil chemistry and mineralogy..
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Close-Up Images of 'Snow Queen' Show Changes
A distinctive hard-surface feature called "Snow Queen" beneath NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander visibly changed sometime between mid-June and mid-July, close-up images from the Robotic Arm Camera show.
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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Working With Sticky Soil
Scientists and engineers on NASA's Phoenix Mars Mission spent the weekend examining how the icy soil on Mars interacts with the scoop on the lander's robotic arm, while trying different techniques to deliver a sample to one of the instruments.
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Phoenix Revises Method to Deliver Icy Sample
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's robotic arm will use a revised collection-and-delivery sequence overnight Sunday with the goal of depositing an icy soil sample in the lander's oven.
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Lander Collects Icy Soil But Needs to Work on Delivery
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's robotic arm collected a more than adequate amount of icy soil for baking in one of the lander's ovens but will need to adjust how it delivers samples.
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Phoenix Scoop Ready for Sampling
Phoenix's robotic arm scoop is primed and ready to collect a soil sample from the northern region of Mars to analyze for the presence of water and other possible ingredients.
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Trench on Mars Ready for Next Sampling by NASA Lander
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has groomed the bottom of a shallow trench to prepare for collecting a sample to be analyzed from a hard subsurface layer where the soil may contain frozen water.
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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Prepares for Next Sample Analysis
The latest activities of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander have moved the mission closer to analyzing a sample of material, possibly icy soil, from a hard layer at the bottom of a shallow trench beside the lander.
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NASA Phoenix Lander Completes Longest Work Shift
Phoenix early Tuesday finished its longest work shift of the mission.
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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Works Through the Night
To coordinate with observations made by an orbiter flying repeatedly overhead, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is working a schedule Monday that includes staying awake all night for the first time.
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Phoenix Continues Tests with Rasp
The team operating Phoenix plans to tell the lander today to do a second, larger test of using a motorized rasp to produce and gather shavings of frozen ground.
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3-D Views Posted From NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander
NASA's Phoenix Mars Mission has released stereo images of the Martian surface near the Phoenix lander.
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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Rasps Frozen Layer, Collects Sample
A powered rasp on the back of the robotic arm scoop of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander successfully drilled into the frozen soil and loosened material that was collected in the lander's scoop.
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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander to Begin Rasping Frozen Layer
A powered rasp on the back of the robotic arm scoop of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is being tested for the first time on Mars in gathering sample shavings of ice.
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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Extending Trench
Phoenix is using its Robotic Arm to enlarge an exposure of hard subsurface material expected to yield a sample of ice-rich soil for analysis in one of the lander's ovens.
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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Uses Soil Probe and Swiss Scope
Phoenix has touched Martian soil with a fork-like probe for the first time and begun using a microscope that examines shapes of tiny particles by touching them.
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Sample-Collection Tests by NASA's Phoenix Lander Continue
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's science and engineering teams are testing methods to get an icy sample into the Robotic Arm scoop for delivery to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA).
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NASA's Phoenix Lander Delivers Soil-Chemistry Sample
Phoenix used its Robotic Arm to deliver a second sample of soil for analysis by the spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory.
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Phoenix to Bake Ice-Rich Sample Next Week
The next sample delivered to NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) will be ice-rich.
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Phoenix Scrapes 'Almost Perfect' Icy Soil for Analysis
Phoenix enlarged the "Snow White" trench and scraped up little piles of icy soil on Saturday, June 28. Scientists say that the scrapings are ideal for the lander's analytical instruments.