Phoenix Lander's Sixth Martian Soil Sample

One week ago, the Robotic Arm of the Phoenix Lander gathered and stored the 6th sample of Martian soil. Originally, the mission coordinators estimated that only 3 would be collected. But, as the mission has surpassed even the boldest of predictions since its May 25 landing on Mars (for 3 months, as it was scheduled), more research is conducted and more unexpected discoveries are made (such as Mars' ice layers and its snow clouds).

 

With this perspective in mind, the lander continues to gather soil samples, recently filling the 6th of its 8 ovens during the mission's 137th sol (Martian day). These ovens are used in order to heat the soil at temperatures of about 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit) so that the mass spectrometer the craft has been provided with can identify and analyze the gases released in the process. It not sure yet whether more such attempts will be made in the time left until Phoenix stops receiving enough energy from the Sun to operate.

 

However, even after Phoenix freezes to death in the Martian winter, researchers will continue to analyze the data that it obtained for them. University of Arizona's William Boynton, the lead scientist for the lander's thermal and evolved-gas analyzer (TEGA) explains: “My entire team is working very hard to make use of the power we have before it disappears. Every time we fill an oven, we potentially learn more about Mars' geochemistry.”

 

It would have been great if the craft has been designed to resume its activity at a later time, sometimes next year, after the harsh winter passed and the Sun could be relied on as an energy source again. This could have provided some sort of permanent Mars laboratory which, together with the MAVEN device, would have gathered breakthrough data for the scientists worldwide. Perhaps similar future projects will bear this in mind.