Phoenix digs 'Wonderland' on Mars
Wednesday, 18 Jun 2008 11:11
The 'Snow White' trench dug by Phoenix on Mars
Science In Focus
London commuters are being urged not to ignore the plight of hunted whales Full Story
Nasa's Phoenix spacecraft has begun digging an area of Mars that scientists have dubbed 'Wonderland' to discover more about conditions of the planet's soil.
The Mars lander took its first scoop of earth from a small hummock yesterday, creating a trench called 'Snow White'.
Unlike digs earlier this month, the trench did not uncover hard, white material believed to be ice.
Scientists behind the mission were expecting this as they predicted that there are more soil layers or thicker soil above possible white material in the hummock.
The Snow White trench is 2cm deep and 30cm long and is a test dig before Phoenix creates a trench planned for the centre of the hummock.
The test trench will help scientists decide at what depths samples of Martian earth should be collected from during the next dig.
Phoenix is also currently studying samples taken earlier this month.
The onboard instrument 'thermal and evolved-gas analyser' (TEGA) is using its eight tiny ovens to bake and sniff the soil to look for volatile ingredients, such as water.
Phoenix was launched to the red planet after earlier missions discovered large amounts of subsurface water ice in the northern arctic plain.
Scientists hope the mission will evaluate whether an environment hospitable to microbial life may exist at the ice-soil boundary.