PIA11373: Soil on Phoenix Deck
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Phoenix
 Spacecraft:  Phoenix Mars Lander
 Instrument:  MECA
Surface Stereo Imager (SSI)
Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer 
 Product Size:  1024 x 1024 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  University of Arizona
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA11373.tif (1.05 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA11373.jpg (110 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This image, taken by the Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) of NASA's Phoenix Lander, shows Martian soil piled on top of the spacecraft's deck and some of its instruments. Visible in the upper-left portion of the image are several wet chemistry cells of the lander's Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA). The instrument on the lower right of the image is the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer. The excess sample delivered to the MECA’s sample stage can be seen on the deck in the lower left portion of the image.

This image was taken on Martian day, or sol, 142, on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2008. Phoenix landed on Mars' northern plains on May 25, 2008.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute

Image Addition Date:
2008-10-22