Click on image to view the animation
This animation shows NASA's Phoenix Lander's Robotic Arm scoop delivering
a sample to the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) and how samples
are analyzed within the instrument.
TEGA has eight tiny ovens for measuring constituents in the atmosphere and
in the soil, including possible organic constituents and the melting point
of ice.
The scoop drops soil onto a fine mesh screen between TEGA's open doors.
Some soil passes through the screen, which vibrates, into the throat of a
funnel, where a spinning device called the 'whirligig' aids delivery into
one half of a tiny oven. The soil sample is represented here by the white
chip. The filled oven half then rotates and mates with the other oven
half, closing the complete oven so sample heating can begin. The purple
coil in this animation is the spring that moves the oven halves together.
Heating occurs at successively higher temperatures over several days. The
energy required to heat the sample is measured to discover its thermal
properties. Gases driven off during sample heating pass through tubing to
the mass spectrometer for analysis.
Note that the exterior doors above the screen never close after sample
delivery.
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.
