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The Surface Stereo Imager camera aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander
acquired a series of images of the laser beam in the Martian night sky.
Bright spots in the beam are reflections from ice crystals in the low
level ice-fog. The brighter area at the top of the beam is due to enhanced
scattering of the laser light in a cloud. The Canadian-built lidar
instrument emits pulses of laser light and records what is scattered back.
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.
