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PIA10979: Scoop Ready to Obtain New Sample
This view from July 25, 2008 by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows the Robotic Arm scoop. The scoop was photographed to confirm it is empty in preparation for collecting a sample for analysis from a hard subsurface layer where soil may contain frozen water.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Phoenix 
 Spacecraft:  Phoenix Mars Lander
 Instrument:  Robotic Arm Camera (RAC) 
 Product Size:  512 x 256 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  University of Arizona 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA10979.tif (131.4 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA10979.jpg (13.32 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 view from the Robotic Arm Camera on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows the Robotic Arm scoop. This image was taken on the 59th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (July 25, 2008). The scoop was photographed to confirm it is empty in preparation for collecting a sample for analysis from a hard subsurface layer where soil may contain frozen water.

The width of the scoop is about 8.5 centimeters (3.3 inches).

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:
2008-07-25