Phoenix Mars Lander Phones Home, Prepares to Unfold Arm [News]

NASA researchers instructed the Phoenix Mars Lander perched near the Red Planet's north pole to unstow its 7.7-foot (2.3-meter) robotic arm in preparation for collecting samples of subsurface ice surrounding the probe, the space agency announced today. Phoenix operators were forced to delay deployment of the arm by one day when the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which had been relaying transmissions between Phoenix and Earth since the craft landed Sunday, switched off communications unexpectedly. [More]

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