Phoenix Mars Lander Soil Testing Hits A Snag | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-06.23.25

Airborne-NextGen-06.24.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.25.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Sun, Jun 08, 2008

Phoenix Mars Lander Soil Testing Hits A Snag

Dirt For Test Present, But Sensors Don't Detect It Reaching Testing Oven

Scientists are attempting to determine what could be going on to prevent Martian dirt scooped by the Phoenix lander's robot arm from reaching a tiny testing oven.

Photos released by the University of Arizona team overseeing the mission showed a scoopful of dirt sitting on and around the open oven door after being dumped by the craft's 8-foot robot arm. The soil was in the right place, as ANN reported Saturday, but none reached the tiny chamber of the oven, one of eight aboard the lander.

This first sample is one of many experiments designed to test soil using the ovens. The Associated Press reports the units are designed to heat soil and test gasses for signs of water or organic compounds that could the foundations for life on the planet.

William Boynton of the University of Arizona, who is overseeing the oven experiments in Tucson, said nothing seems to be wrong with the lander's robot arm and its ability to deliver the dirt, as it landed where it was supposed to.

Instruments show a vibrator on the screen -- designed to help shake soil into the chamber -- was working. But the electronic sensor to detect dirt falling into the chamber didn't report any particles.

"We think everything is working correctly, although we don't really know for sure," Boynton said Saturday. "We're a little bit concerned about this, but we have some other things to check out."

The teams overseeing the experiments plan to spend several days going over possible reasons for the apparent failure, Boynton added.

A possible explanation is the dirt may be too dense or compacted to be vibrated loose and pass through the screen. The screen is to prevent anything but small particles from reaching the oven. Additionally the vibrator could be sending incorrect readings that it was working when it was not.

If the oven turns out to be unusable, there are seven other ovens available for the mission's primary experiments.

While troubleshooting continues, scientists will devote attention to using the backhoe-like robotic arm to take close-up photos of the surface and perform additional digging.

As ANN reported, Phoenix landed in Mars' northern plains May 25 for a three-month mission to determine if the northern permafrost region may have the ability to support life.

The $420 million mission is being overseen by the University of Arizona, the first public university to lead a Mars exploration mission, with support from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA.

FMI: www.nasa.gov/phoenix, http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

Advertisement

More News

NTSB Final Report: Rutan Long-EZ

He Attempted To Restart The Engine Three Times. On The Third Restart Attempt, He Noticed That Flames Were Coming Out From The Right Wing Near The Fuel Cap Analysis: The pilot repor>[...]

ANN FAQ: Turn On Post Notifications

Make Sure You NEVER Miss A New Story From Aero-News Network Do you ever feel like you never see posts from a certain person or page on Facebook or Instagram? Here’s how you c>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: ICAS Perspectives - Advice for New Air Show Performers

From 2009 (YouTube Edition): Leading Air Show Performers Give Their Best Advice for Newcomers On December 6th through December 9th, the Paris Las Vegas Hotel hosted over 1,500 air >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (06.28.25)

Aero Linx: NASA ASRS ASRS captures confidential reports, analyzes the resulting aviation safety data, and disseminates vital information to the aviation community. The ASRS is an i>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (06.28.25)

“For our inaugural Pylon Racing Seminar in Roswell, we were thrilled to certify 60 pilots across our six closed-course pylon race classes. Not only did this year’s PRS >[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC