News Planetary Science

Shake, shake, shake

Phoenix Lander's vibrators get Martian soil sample into instrument's oven

By Ashley Yeager

- More than 2 years ago

Seven rounds of shaking later, the Mars Phoenix Lander finally got some soil into one of its tiny ovens.

SOIL SPRINKLER The Phoenix Lander used its robotic arm to test a better “sprinkle” method for delivering small samples of soil to instruments on the lander deck. The MECA’s Optical Microscope will receive the next soil sample through the port in the instrument’s cover that is visible at the bottom of this image.