spacetoday.net: Glitch stymies Phoenix sample analysis

Posted: Sun, Jun 8, 2008, 9:04 AM ET (1304 GMT)
Phoenix first sample on instrument screen (NASA/JPL/UAz)

The first sample of Martian soil intended for analysis failed to reach instruments on the Phoenix Mars Lander, perhaps because the soil is clumpier than expected. Project officials said Saturday that the spacecraft's robotic arm dropped a sample of regolith onto a screen that covers the entrance to the spacecraft's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument. The screen is designed to allow only small particles of regolith through to the instrument, but officials said that none of the material made it through the screen to the instrument. Scientists speculate that the regolith around the landing site may be clumpier than at other sites on the planet, keeping fine particles from making it through the screen. Several ideas are under consideration for solving the problem, including using the arm to break down the soil before scooping it up, as well as changing how the instrument shakes the soil sample to let more material through.