* Astronomy

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RE: The Phoenix lander

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Credit: NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona

As seen in the top centre of this image from Phoenix, the exhaust from the descent engine has blown soil off to reveal either rock or ice, which has not yet been determined.

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Scientists have discovered what may be ice that was exposed when soil was blown away as NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed on Mars last Sunday, May 25. The possible ice appears in an image the robotic arm camera took underneath the lander, near a footpad.

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Scientists for the Phoenix Mars Lander are wrestling with a short circuit on the spacecraft.
Scientists said Friday that the problem is in a device designed to analyse ice and soil dug from the planet's surface. The short circuit was found during testing of the robot.

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Nasa's Mars lander Phoenix has unstowed its robotic arm - the key tool in its mission to test the red planet's soil for the building blocks of life.
The 2.35m-long titanium and aluminium extension will dig below the Martian topsoil to the water-ice which is thought to lie just beneath.

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NASA's Mars lander is returning more detailed images from the Martian surface and is now preparing its instruments for science operations.
Phoenix transmitted a 360-degree panorama of its frigid Martian world, freed its nearly 8-foot robotic arm, tested a laser instrument for studying dust and clouds, and transmitted its second weather report on Wednesday evening.

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Credit: NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona

This panoramic view taken by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows the sweeping plains of the Martian polar north.

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The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged the Phoenix parachuting down to the martian surface.

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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

The 10-km-wide crater seen in the background is named Heimdall.
The Phoenix lander eventually landed 20 km in front of the crater.

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Listen to Phoenix descend

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RE: The Phoenix lander

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Colour View to Northwest of NASA Mars Phoenix Lander
This approximate colour (SSI's red, green, and blue filters: 600, 530, and 480 nanometers) view was obtained on sol 2 by the Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) on board the Phoenix lander. The view is toward the northwest, showing polygonal terrain near the lander and out to the horizon.

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Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University