Mars Lander Gets Another Sample In Oven

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager took this false color image on Sol 72 (August 7, 2008), the 72nd Martian day after landing. It shows a dirt sample from a trench informally called "Rosy Red" after being delivered to a gap between partially opened doors on the lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University)

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has successfully dumped another sample of surface dirt into its ovens for analysis, mission scientists reported this weekend.

Phoenix's robotic arm delivered dirt Thursday from a trench informally named "Rosy Red" through a narrow opening to a screen above the No. 5 oven on the lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA). TEGA heats up the samples in its oven and then analyzes the vapors given off to help determine the composition of the Martian dirt.

"There appear to be clumps blocking the opening," said Phoenix science lead Doug Ming of NASA Johnson Space Center, in Houston, on Friday.

Phoenix scientists will be looking for signs of perchlorate, a highly oxidizing substance that was detected in dirt samples by the lander's wet chemistry laboratory. The last sample analyzed by TEGA found no indications of any chlorine present

On Friday, the spacecraft also extended the width of an exploratory trench informally named "Neverland," which runs between two rocks on the surface of the ground.

Phoenix's mission, originally slated to end at the end of August, has been extended to Sept. 30.

Andrea Thompson is an associate editor at Scientific American, where she covers sustainability, energy and the environment. Prior to that, she was a senior writer covering climate science at Climate Central and a reporter and editor at Live Science, where she primarily covered Earth science and the environment. She holds a graduate degree in science health and environmental reporting from New York University, as well as a bachelor of science and and masters of science in atmospheric chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology.