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Mars-lander begins probe

TUCSON (ARIZONA): Scientists began releasing the robotic arm on NASA’s Mars spacecraft — Phoenix Lander — on Wednesday, one day late because of a radio problem. Project manager Barry Goldstein said the communications glitch was only a blip in the robot’s three-month exploration of the planet’s Arctic region.

The outage occurred on Tuesday in a NASA satellite circling Mars when a radio shut off before it could relay commands to the lander to get the 8-foot arm moving.

Before the Phoenix flexes its arm, it must rotate its wrist to release the latches on its forearm and elbow and “move it out in a staircase fashion” to remove its protective sleeve. Controllers sent the instructions to begin the two-day process.

Phoenix’s arm will dig into the soil surrounding it, seeking ice believed to be within inches to a foot below the surface. It’s part of the effort to study whether the site could have supported primitive life.

On the Net:

Phoenix Mars: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu — AP

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