Sol 85 Raw Images began arriving about 30 minutes ago, as of now, 30 of them.

Soil in scoop. (0954)


Bombs away on oven #7. (1128)


Empty. (1132)


Useful links:
NASA Phoenix Mission
University of Arizona Phoenix Mars Mission
University of Arizona Phoenix Mars Mission: Lander Gallery Index
University of Arizona Phoenix Mars Mission: Press Release Gallery Index
University of Arizona Phoenix Mars Mission: Mosaic Gallery Index
JPL Phoenix Mission News
NASA Phoenix Twitter Feed
NASA Phoenix Multimedia
CSA Phoenix Mars Mission
Planetary Society: Phoenix Mission
Planetary Society: Phoenix Non-SSI Raw Images
Planetary Society: Phoenix Sol-By-Sol Summary
Planetary Society: Weblog
Emily Lakdawalla Ustream video chat (Wednesdays)
Texas A&M University Phoenix SSI Raw Images Directory
Unmanned Spaceflight Forum: Phoenix 2007/8
BBC Science: Phoenix diary
Google Mars landing site
NASA TV (or NASA TV Yahoo! source or high-resolution)
NASA TV Media Channel

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It has been a while, a few months in fact, since I have had real acess to a computer. What is the verdict, ice, carbon dioxide, or salt?

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Some of each.

What? You mean the white stuff? Water ice: article in this topic, live as covered in press briefing. A few articles forward gives Q&A and further on links to NASA press release and Planetary Society coverage.

===

As for the latest delivery attempt, this image (plus the before image of the scoop with sparse contents) makes me think not much soil hit the target. The screen looks pretty clean. (1804)

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Sol 86 Raw Images are beginning to arrive. Texas A&M University Phoenix SSI Raw Images Directory labels this sol:

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BBC Science: Phoenix diary

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Think again.

JPL Phoenix Mission News: Mid-Depth Soil Collected for Lab Test On NASA's Mars Lander

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2008-08-22_SOL_87 Press Release Images Gallery has one image, not really that cool, of the TECP, with pop-up caption speaking of Upper Cupboard trench and sol 86:



It just makes me expect a press release about the TECP today, soon.

Edit, 5 minutes later: That was quick.

JPL Phoenix Mission News: Conductivity Probe after Trench-Bottom Placement

That was about what the pop-up caption said. Not much news there. Sorry. Back to sleep.

But, this sounds like implementation of the plan discussed in JPL Phoenix Mission News: Phoenix Mars Lander Explores Site by Trenching (August 20) to decide where to get the next sample for a MECA Wet Chemistry Lab, based on saltiness of Upper Cupboard.

Edit: Well, let's have some purpose to this article. How about: a big block of Sol 86 Raw Images, over 300, have arrived.

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Guess what just began to arrive. Yes, Sol 87 Raw Images!

Guess how many. Yes, five, so far.

This sol is labeled at Texas A&M University Phoenix SSI Raw Images Directory:

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I'd like to see the TECP results so we can get an idea of what the actual ground temperatures are. The air temperatures have been reported as a maximum of -30C, but the ground temperatures can be 20 degrees C higher than this.

Bob Clark

Planetary Society Weblog: Phoenix sol 43 update (July 9):

Not so far away.

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Sol 88 Raw Images began arriving about 4 hours ago. Currently there are 250.

Texas A&M University Phoenix SSI Raw Images Directory has it labeled:

Looks like they might have made a delivery to a Wet Chemistry Lab cell.


They scooped a sample on Sol 87, probably from Upper Cupboard and stared at it for a while, more this sol, maybe looking for signs of salts, and then hovered over MECA Wet.

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Astrobiology Magazine: Liquid Water in the Martian North? Maybe.

More there about instruments, capabilities, and plans.

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Maybe a tease:

Tucson Citizen: Mars Lander soil probe is topic at UA forum Monday (Registration may be required; it was for me upon a revisit.)

University of Arizona, SWES, Seminar/Events

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I've been informed that not only do the iron compounds known to exist on Mars catalyze the breakdown of organics at high temperatures but so also does perchlorate. This is consistent with what was said about perchlorate in the Mars Phoenix news conference that it was a weak oxidant but becomes more active at high temperatures.
Then a breakdown in the TEGA instrument of organics could be coming from two sources making their detection more difficult. Yet the detection of evolved CO2 only at high temperatures in TEGA tantalizing suggests they might be there.
Because of the importance of detecting organics on Mars means should be investigated for mitigating the decomposing effects of the minerals in the soil on organics. One possibility would be by dissolving the iron compounds and perchlorate in liquid water, if a sample could be delivered to TEGA with a sizable ice content. Jarosite a ferric sulfate shown to decompose organics was proven by the MER rovers to exist on Mars and is soluble in water, as is also perchlorate. But when you heated the sample to detect the organics the water would evaporate and the iron compounds and perchlorate would precipitate out again so would presumably still have their oxidizing effect on the organics.
But what if the iron compounds and perchlorate could be separated from the organics? MER rover scientists during the discovery by Opportunity of sedimentary deposits mentioned there appeared to be an "evaporation sequence" where different minerals precipitated out at different times. Did this mean they were present in separated layers?
If so, then perhaps by slow heating of the water in the TEGA sample the iron compounds and the perchlorate could be made to precipitate out in separate well defined layers that would allow at least some of the organics not to come in contact with those layers.


Bob Clark

Sol 89 Raw Images began arriving about 3 hours ago. Texas A&M University Phoenix SSI Raw Images Directory has it labeled:

There are images among them of the scoop posing for delivery above TEGA oven #0. I wonder why. I thought they made a delivery there on Sol 64 (Raw Images).

Delivery poses, TEGA oven #0, sol 64 and sol 89:

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Yes it is spent, but they might be using it as a seive.
Maybe they plan to use the screen to allow soil particles to fall through as they dry, hoping that the screen would retain the delicate lacework of dried salt crystals. Thats what I would do. Maybe someone should phone Phoenix

And, that's a wrap. Time flies when you're having fun. That's 90 sols on Mars for Phoenix. End of nominal mission.

Thanks, folks. Have a safe drive home.

But, wait. There's more.

There's the extended mission!

What new discoveries will our beloved Phoenix lander make? How will it cope with falling solar power? What icy fate awaits?

See topic: Phoenix on Mars: Extended Mission

Meet you there!

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This reference on crystallization separation suggests this method
might work:

===============================================
separation and purification :: Crystallization and precipitation --
Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
Principles of specific methods » Equilibrium separations »
Crystallization and precipitation.
Crystallization is a technique that has long been used in the
purification of substances. Often, when a solid substance (single
compound) is placed in a liquid, it dissolves. Upon adding more of the
solid, a point eventually is reached beyond which no further solid
dissolves, and the solution is said to be saturated with the solid
compound. The concentration of the saturated solution depends on the
temperature, in most cases a higher temperature resulting in a higher
concentration.
These phenomena can be employed as a means of effecting separation and
purification. Thus, if a solution saturated at some temperature is
cooled, the dissolved component begins to separate from the solution
and continues to do so until the solution again becomes saturated at
the lower temperature. Because the solubilities of two solid compounds
in a particular solvent generally differ, it often is possible to find
conditions such that the solution is saturated with only one of the
components of a mixture. When such a solution cools, part of the less
soluble substance crystallizes alone, while the more soluble
components remain dissolved.
Crystallization, the process of solidifying from solution, is highly
complex. Seed particles, or nuclei, form in the solution, and other
molecules then deposit on these solid surfaces. The particles
eventually become large enough to fall to the bottom of the container.
In order to achieve a high purity in the crystallized solid, it is
necessary that this precipitation take place slowly. If solidification
is rapid, impurities can be entrapped in the solid matrix. Entrapment
of foreign material can be minimized if the individual crystals are
kept small. It is sometimes necessary to add a seed crystal to the
solution in order to begin the crystallization process: the seed
crystal provides a solid surface on which further crystallization can
take place.
The term precipitation sometimes is differentiated from
crystallization by restricting it to processes in which an insoluble
compound is formed in the solution by a chemical reaction. It often
happens that several substances are precipitated by a given reaction.
To achieve separation in such cases, it is necessary to control the
concentration of the precipitating agent, so that the solubility of
only one substance is exceeded. Alternatively, a second agent can be
added to the solution to form stable, soluble products with one or
more components in order to suppress their participation in the
precipitation reaction. Such compounds, often used in the separation
of metal ions, are called masking agents.
Precipitation was used for many years as a standard method for
separation and analysis of metals. It has now been replaced, however,
by selective and sensitive instrumental methods that directly analyze
many metals in aqueous solutions.

Principles of specific methods » Equilibrium separations » Zone
melting.
Another separation procedure based on liquid-solid equilibria is zone
melting, which has found its greatest use in the purification of
metals. Purities as high as 99.999 percent often are obtained by
application of this technique. Samples are usually in a state of
moderate purity before zone melting is performed.
The zone-melting process is easy to visualize. Typically, the sample
is made into the form of a thin rod, from 60 centimetres to 3 metres
(2 to 10 feet) or more in length. The rod, confined within a tube, is
suspended either horizontally or vertically, and a narrow ring that
can be heated is positioned around it. The temperature of this ring is
held several degrees above the melting point of the solid, and the
ring is made to travel very slowly (a few centimetres per hour) along
the rod. Thus, in effect, a melted zone travels through the rod:
liquid forms on the front side of this zone, and solid crystallizes on
the rear side. Because the freezing point of a substance is depressed
by the presence of impurities, the last portion of a liquefied sample
to freeze is enriched in the impurities. As the molten zone moves
along, therefore, it becomes more and more concentrated with
impurities. At the end of the operation, the impurities are found
solidified at the end of the rod, and the impure section can be
removed simply by cutting it off. Ultrahigh purities can be achieved
through multistage operation, either by recycling the ring several
times or by using several rings in succession.
...
Principles of specific methods » Particle separations » Particle
electrophoresis and electrostatic precipitation.
As the name implies, particle electrophoresis involves the separation
of charged particles under the influence of an electric field; this
method is used especially for the separation of viruses and bacteria.
Electrostatic precipitation is a method for the precipitation of fogs
(suspensions of particles in the atmosphere or in other gases): a high
voltage is applied across the gas phase to produce electrical charges
on the particles. These charges cause the particles to be attracted to
the oppositely charged walls of the separator, where they give up
their charges and fall into collectors.

===============================================
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/...-precipitation

There are several techniques for chemical separation discussed here,
most of which wouldn't be available to TEGA since it wasn't designed
to do these types of separations, such as filtration or osmosis
separation.
However, the method of crystallization separation might work. Here
since different materials when dissolved will recrystallize at
different times as the water is slowly evaporated, the particles that
crystallize first will settle to the bottom in the water first, then
others as they crystallize, thus separating the materials into layers.
An analog of the zone melting technique mentioned, might work when
applied to TEGA. However as described here it appears to require a
method of varying where the heating is applied in the TEGA chamber. I
don't know if TEGA has this capability.
Finally, the method of using electric charges to separate out the
materials might work for TEGA since it uses a mass spectrometer. With
a mass spectrometer you detect different molecules by vaporizing and
ionizing them, and determining how fast the different ions move under
applied electric and magnetic fields.
Here, we would first use the electric and magnetic fields to separate
the ionic species dissolved in the water without raising the sample to
high temperatures for vaporization, then later use the usual mass
spectrometer method to determine which molecules are present. We might
also want to further ionize the dissolved ions in the water to help
out the separation process.

Bob Clark