Phoenix is finally cooking Mars Soil

Jun 12 2008, 2:00am CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

As reported on the weekend NASA had troubles getting soil the Mars Lander Phoenix collected into its little oven to analyze it.

Through vibrating the filter the Mars soil samples moved inside the tiny oven. The Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument, or TEGA, for Phoenix actually has eight separate tiny ovens to bake and sniff the soil to assess its volatile ingredients, such as water.
More proof, if you still need it, that NASA scientists are all kids at heart is in the names they gave the trenches Phoenix dug. The left one in the photo above is called "Dodo" and the right one is called "Baby Bear".

The sample Phoenix is currently analyzing is from Baby Bear.
More details on the NASA site.

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Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at ml@i4u.com. Luigi posts regularly on LuigiMe.com about his experience running I4U.