Soil from a sample called Burning Coals was delivered through the doors of
cell number seven (left) of the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer on NASA's
Phoenix Mars Lander on Aug. 20, 2008, during the 85th Martian day, or sol,
since Phoenix landed.
This image from Phoenix's Robotic Arm Camera shows some of the soil on the
screen beneath the doors. One of the cell's two doors is fully open, the
other partially open.
This soil sample comes from an intermediate depth between the ground
surface and the hard, underground icy layer at the Phoenix site.
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.
