Phoenix scrapes more Martian soil samples

PASADENA, Calif., July 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says its Phoenix Mars Lander has enlarged its so-called "Snow White" trench, scraping more soil samples for analysis.

The lander's robotic arm gathered little piles of icy soil Saturday -- the 33rd Martian day of the mission. National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said Monday the scrapings appear ideal for the lander's analytical instruments.

"The robotic arm on Phoenix used the blade on its scoop to make 50 scrapes in the icy layer buried under sub-surface soil," NASA said in a statement. "The robotic arm then heaped the scrapings into a few 10- to 20-cubic centimeter piles, or piles each containing between two and four teaspoonfuls."

The scoop will sprinkle the fairly fine-grained material onto the spacecraft's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. The instrument has tiny ovens to bake and sniff the soil to assess its volatile ingredients, such as water. It can also determine the melting point of ice.

NASA said Phoenix's overall goal is to discover the history of water on Mars, determine if the Martian arctic soil could support life, and study Martian weather from a polar perspective.