Phoenix Update

NASA has been carefully checking out the Phoenix lander since it successfully touched down on Mars. Now, the good stuff is about to begin.

Perhaps today, the robot arm on the lander will dig into the soil-- assuming everything works as planned-- scoop up a sample, and deposit it in the automated lab, where the sample will be chemically analyzed. That procedure will hopefully take place several times during the planned 90 day mission of Phienix. NASA also hopes the arm can get down to the subsurface ice in the polar regions.

Of course, learning about a planet from one site has its limitations. An alien probe that landed in Kansas could not extrapolate the Amazon rain forest, or the ocean depths-- possibly not even the Rockies. Phoenix, however, is one approach among several going on simultaneously to understand Mars. Therein lies its value.