NASA tests more Martian soil

PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. space agency scientists say they've managed to place enough Martian soil into the Phoenix Mars Lander's thermal and gas analyzer to begin tests.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Phoenix's robotic arm excavated the soil last week from a trench at its landing site, but not enough filled the oven to begin analyzing it. The problem, however, was resolved during the weekend, Doug Ming, the Phoenix team's lead science investigator said.

The overall Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona with project management at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. International contributions are provided by the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.