Truemors
Photo: Phoenix lander/courtesy NASA and University of Arizona Phoenix Project.
The technology and precision required to land a vehicle on Mars is amazing in and of itself. Then add in the precision required to operate that lander to do specific tasks and report back, and the concept is simply the stuff of earlier-era science fiction dreams.
But now the Phoenix lander is behaving just like most ordinary household appliances. It's doing something, but not doing it right.
Scientists and engineers now have to figure out the problem and fix it, from Earth. And sometimes, we can't even fix our blenders or lawn mowers right here at home.
Stay tuned. This puzzle is going to be fascinating to watch.
The first sample of Martian dirt dumped onto the opening of the Phoenix lander's tiny testing oven failed to reach the instrument and scientists said Saturday they will devote a few days to trying to determine the cause.
Photos released by the University of Arizona team overseeing the mission showed a scoopful of dirt sitting on and around the open oven door after being dumped by the craft's 8-foot robot arm.
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