Success sometimes comes in small packages. Scientists are learning to operate the Phoenix scoop with precision and gathering specific samples of the Martian soil.
This week the team made 50 scrapes with the Phoenix Lander scoop in the Snow White Trench. They gathered these in to small piles equaling only teaspoons of material.
Each pile of soil comes from a particular sample area within the Snow Trench. Some of the piles are believed to have a high enough ice content to show water in the tests.
The scoop will now move a sample of the Martian soil from one of the small piles in to the TEGA for analysis.
The team appears to be getting the more mechanical aspects of the Phoenix Lander Mission under control. Next we see how the testing equipment does. And then, we'll have more answers.
For more information on the this story, check out the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab website for their press release on the Snow White scrapings.
Smiles. ET
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