Categories: MarsMissions

Phoenix Lander Successful in Moving “Headless” Rock

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The robotic arm on NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander slid a rock out of the way during the mission’s 117th Martian day (Sept. 22, 2008) in order to take a look at the soil underneath the rock, and to see at what depth the subsurface ice was under the rock. The lander’s Surface Stereo Imager took this image later the same day, showing the rock, called “Headless,” after the arm pushed it about 40 centimeters (16 inches) from its previous location. “The rock ended up exactly where we intended it to,” said Matt Robinson of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, robotic arm flight software lead for the Phoenix team. And what was underneath the rock? Take a look:


It’s hard to tell, exactly since the ground was disturbed from the moving. Some white material appears to be where the rock used to sit, but the Phoenix science team will have to study the area more closely. Look for official word from the team soon. It looks from this second image as though the thermal and conductivity probe was stuck in the ground a few times around the rock, searching for clues of any water molecules in the soil (look for the two separate marks left by the probe just to the right of the trench.)

RAC (via the SSI). Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech/U of AZ

Also in recent days, the two Phoenix cameras took portraits of each other. Above is the Robotic Arm Camera (RAC) and below is the the Surface Stereo Imager:

Phoenix Surface Stereo Image-twitterpic. Credit: Twitter

Source: Phoenix Gallery

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

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