During the first 90 Martian days, or sols, after its May 25, 2008, landing
on an arctic plain of Mars, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander dug several
trenches in the workspace reachable with the lander's robotic arm.
The lander's Surface Stereo Imager camera recorded this view of the
workspace on Sol 90, early afternoon local Mars time (overnight Aug. 25 to
Aug. 26, 2008). The shadow of the the camera itself, atop its mast, is
just left of the center of the image and roughly a third of a meter (one
foot) wide.
The workspace is on the north side of the lander. The trench just to the
right of center is called "Neverland."
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.
