Mars Lander Digs Deeper Into Mars

By Andrea Thompson Senior Writer posted: 26 August 2008 12:54 pm ET

For its next trick, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander will dig a trench in the Martian surface three times deeper than any it has dug so far, as it completes its original three month- mission and embarks upon its extended mission.

Today marked the last day of the 90-sol (1 sol is one Martian day) primary mission since the spacecraft landed on Mars on May 25. Phoenix will continue its mission through the end of September, as NASA announced in July.

"As we near what we originally expected to be the full length of the mission, we are all thrilled with how well the mission is going," said Phoenix project manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Phoenix's main task for Sol 90 is to scoop up a sample of dirt from the bottom of a trench called Stone Soup, which is about 7 inches (18 centimeters) deep. This may not seem all that deep, but it is the furthest into the Martian surface that Phoenix has penetrated so far. On a later day, Phoenix's robotic arm will sprinkle some of the dirt from the sample into the third of four cells in the lander's wet chemistry lab.

More at www.space.com