This is an illustration of soil analysis on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's
Wet Chemistry Lab (WCL) on board the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and
Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) instrument. By dissolving small amounts of
soil in water, WCL will attempt to determine the pH, the abundance of
minerals such as magnesium and sodium cations or chloride, bromide and
sulfate anions, as well as the conductivity and redox potential.
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.