A couple of potential problems for the Phoenix Lander project appear to be resolved--setting the stage for its search for water and possibly life on Mars.
NASA scientists feared that the robotic arm from the Phoenix Lander could get stuck by packing material (left). But a day in the sun made the material peel away from the arm (right) giving NASA officials a huge sigh of relief.
A second glitch occurred on Tuesday morning, when NASA sent commands to begin testing the robotic arm to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to relay to the Phoenix. The orbiter was in a standby position, so it did not send the signals. However, late on Tuesday, the orbiter did relay the commands to the Martian surface for the testing to begin on Wednesday.
Here are first-day images from the Phoenix Lander on Mars.
Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Caption by Andy Smith
