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Phoenix on Mars The latest successful landing craft has made new discoveries about water on the red planet
No full textMicroscopic Views of the Soil at the Phoenix Landing Site
No full textThe Optical Microscope (OM) onboard Phoenix (PHX) has returned high-resolution images (4 μm/px) of Martian soil collected on magnetic and non-magnetic substrates. Different types of material can be distinguished: (a) Orange sub-micron dust that is similar to classic Martian air-fall dust. (b) Dark (almost black) particles: 50-80 μm across, subrounded, substantially magnetic. (c) Translucent particles: Similar to previous type except for the color that ranges from ruby to brown. (d) Whitish splotches: No more than 10 μm across. Appear in all types of samples. Types (b) and (c) may actually be the dark, magnetic particles observed during the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, but may also contain glassy volcanic particles or tectites from the nearby Heimdall crater. Type (d) may be dominated by salts. Soil particles appear to be very sticky, especially late in the (90 sols long) Primary Mission. Soil at the PHX site may be more altered than at previous landing sites as a result of diurnal and seasonal water vapor transported across the top soil layer
Microscopic Views of the Soil at the Phoenix Landing Site
No full textThe Optical Microscope (OM) onboard Phoenix (PHX) has returned high-resolution images (4 μm/px) of Martian soil collected on magnetic and non-magnetic substrates. Different types of material can be distinguished: (a) Orange sub-micron dust that is similar to classic Martian air-fall dust. (b) Dark (almost black) particles: 50-80 μm across, subrounded, substantially magnetic. (c) Translucent particles: Similar to previous type except for the color that ranges from ruby to brown. (d) Whitish splotches: No more than 10 μm across. Appear in all types of samples. Types (b) and (c) may actually be the dark, magnetic particles observed during the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, but may also contain glassy volcanic particles or tectites from the nearby Heimdall crater. Type (d) may be dominated by salts. Soil particles appear to be very sticky, especially late in the (90 sols long) Primary Mission. Soil at the PHX site may be more altered than at previous landing sites as a result of diurnal and seasonal water vapor transported across the top soil layer
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