Mars lander Phoenix struggles with soil sample

A soil sample from the Martian arctic dug up by the Phoenix probe appears to be too firmly clumped to deliver any particles into the spacecraft's main test instrument, mission experts said.

Apparently no testable bits from the 200 milliliters (12 cubic inches) of Martian permafrost which researchers hope will provide clues to whether the planet was once habitable for microbial life passed through a screen into Phoenix's thermal and evolved gas analyzer (TEGA), Phoenix team experts at the University of Arizona said Saturday.