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'La Mancha' Trench Dug by Phoenix Mars Lander

Dec. 15, 2008
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander captured this view on Oct. 24, 2008, about a week before the lander's final communication. Shown is the excavated trench called 'La Mancha'. The soil where the arm has disturbed it are indicators of the cloddiness of the soil.
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The Surface Stereo Imager camera on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander captured this view on the mission's 148th Martian day, or sol (Oct. 24, 2008), about a week before the lander's final communication.

The view shows a trench called "La Mancha" excavated by Phoenix. Textures of the soil where the arm has disturbed it are indicators of the cloddiness of the soil.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter.

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