Date:03/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/03/stories/2008060355071300.htm

International

Mars robot leaves a “footprint”

TUCSON (ARIZONA): NASA’s new robot on Mars reached out and touched the soil for the first time, leaving behind a striking footprint-like impression, said scientists on Sunday. The Phoenix Mars Lander’s robotic arm was making a test run, just one week after its landing. The spacecraft will soon start scooping up soil and ice and begin tests.

“This first touch allows us to utilise the robotic arm accurately,” said David Spencer, Phoenix’s surface mission manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. NASA on Saturday showed sharp images of what appeared to be ice exposed under the lander.

The mission’s main goal is to test ice for evidence of organic compounds that are the chemical building blocks of life.

The University of Arizona in Tucson is leading and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is managing the three-month scientific mission. — AP