This image from NASA's Phoenix Lander's Optical Microscope shows particles
of Martian dust lying on the microscope's silicon substrate. The Robotic
Arm sprinkled a sample of the soil from the Snow White trench onto the
microscope on July 2, 2008, the 38th Martian day, or sol, of the mission
after landing.
Subsequently, the Atomic Force Microscope, or AFM, zoomed in one of the
fine particles, creating the first-ever image of a particle of Mars'
ubiquitous fine dust, the most highly magnified image ever seen from
another world.
The Atomic Force Microscope was developed by a Swiss-led consortium in
collaboration with Imperial College London. The AFM is part of Phoenix's
Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer instrument.
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.
