Science chiefs from the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos have begun laying the ground work to redesign a two-pronged robotic Mars mission to accommodate greater participation by Russia.
The ExoMars mission was upended earlier this year by uncertainty surrounding NASA’s ability to fund the joint campaign.
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The Phoenix Mars lander’s organic chemistry instrument is about half way through its first multi-day/multi-temperature heating cycle in a search for water ice and organics on the Martian surface.
At the same time, the lander’s robotic arm is beginning to dig deeper at one location to the left front of the vehicle, while also reaching further right to start a new trench in more pillow-like material. The pillow-like soil is at the center of a soil polygon at the landing site, while the deepening trench is in a liner depression.
The Alliance Spacesystems (ASI) arm has been working perfectly and is easier to target than the much smaller ASI arms on the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, says Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. He is a lead science investigator on both the Phoenix and rover programs.