This series of images show Phoenix's telltale instrument waving in the
Martian wind. Documenting the telltale's movement helps mission scientists
and engineers determine what the wind is like on Mars.
On the day these images were taken, one of the images seemed to be
"out-of-phase" with other images, possibly indicating a dust devil
occurrence. Preliminary analysis of the images taken right before and
after the passing of this possible dust devil indicates winds from the
west at 7 meters per second. The image taken during the possible dust
devil shows 11 meters per second wind from the south.
These images were taken by the lander's Surface Stereo Imager (SSI) on the
136th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Oct. 12, 2008). Phoenix's
telltale is part of the Canadian Space Agency's meteorological package on
the lander.
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.
