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Article: NASA's Phoenix Lander collects an oven full of Martian soil
- Article from:
- The Hindustan Times
- Article date:
- June 12, 2008
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Report from Asian News International brought to you by HT Syndication.
Washington, June 12 -- The robotic arm of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has delivered a partial scoopful of clumpy Martian soil to the oven on its Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument, or TEGA.
TEGA has eight separate tiny ovens to bake and sniff the soil to assess its volatile ingredients, such as water.
What the Lander's robotic arm did was that it delivered a partial scoopful of clumpy soil from a trench informally called "Baby Bear" to the number 4 oven on TEGA, on June 6, which was 12 days after landing.
A screen covers each of TEGA's eight ovens.
The screen is to prevent larger bits of soil from clogging the ...