Interesting Facts About Mars

Shown on the picture are soil, taken from the “Snow White” trench, delivered to the wet chemistry laboratory. The wet chemistry lab is used to identify the components of the Martian soil by mixing it with an Aqueous solution from Earth. Scientists have so far determined that the Martian soil is composed of salt and other chemicals like sodium, perchlorate, chloride, magnesium and potassium.

In the coming sols, Phoenix will be delivering soil samples to another instrument called TEGA - Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer. This instrument is used to heat samples and study the substances that turned into gas. It determines whether the samples contain organic compounds and it also helps scientists determine the properties of the Martian soil.

The Martian summer will be ending soon so scientists want to be able to analyze as many samples before the Phoenix’s battery dies out.

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.

Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University