Phoenix first to see silt grains on Mars

Evidence for calcium carbonate at the Mars Phoenix landing site.

Carbonates are generally products of aqueous processes and may hold important clues about the history of liquid water on the surface of Mars. Calcium carbonate (approximately 3 to 5 weight percent) has been identified in the soils around the Phoenix landing site by scanning calorimetry showing an endothermic transition beginning around 725 degrees C accompanied by evolution of carbon dioxide an...

Geologic Setting and Surface Properties of the Mars Phoenix Landing

Introduction: The Phoenix Lander touched down just before the northern summer solstice at 68.22 N, 234.25 E (areocentric) and operated for 152 sols. The lander is located on patterned ground superimposed on ejecta deposits from the nearby bowl-shaped 10 km Heimdall crater. The robotic arm was able to excavate a dozen trenches on polygon centers, edges, and troughs, exposing and sampling a thin ...

Results from the Mars Phoenix Lander Robotic Arm experiment

[1] The Mars Phoenix Lander was equipped with a 2.4 m Robotic Arm (RA) with an Icy Soil Acquisition Device capable of excavating trenches in soil deposits, grooming hard icy soil surfaces with a scraper blade, and acquiring icy soil samples using a rasp tool. A camera capable of imaging the scoop interior and a thermal and electrical conductivity probe were also included on the RA. A dozen tren...

Mars Express Bistatic Radar Observations in Northern Mars Plains with Possible Application to Phoenix Landing Site Characterization

Introduction: Mars Express (MEX) bistatic radar (BSR) ground tracks will not move to far northern (e.g., Phoenix) latitudes until June 2006. But the generally uniform appearance of these plains areas suggests that certain surface characteristics may be inferred from observations already in hand. Of particular interest are two MEX experiments conducted in the vicinity of the Viking Lander 2 site...

The first viking mission to Mars.