This mosaic of images from the Surface Stereo Imager camera on NASA's
Phoenix Mars Lander shows several trenches dug by Phoenix, plus a corner
of the spacecraft's deck and the Martian arctic plain stretching to the
horizon.
The footpad at the bottom center is about 1 meter (3 feet) below the
spacecraft deck seen at the lower left. Overlaid images show trenches dug
to either nearly pure water ice or ice-cemented soil. Analyses of samples
taken from these trenches give clues to the history of the region.
This approximately true color view combines images taken on several dates
during the five months Phoenix studied its surroundings after landing on
May 25, 2008.
The Phoenix Mission was led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on
behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission was by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development was by
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.