NASA’s Atomic Force Microscope Returns Dust Images from MARS
“This is the first picture of a clay-sized particle on Mars, and the size agrees with predictions from the colors seen in sunsets on the Red Planet,” said Phoenix co-investigator Urs Staufer of the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, who leads a Swiss consortium that made the lander’s microscope.
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The ultrafine speck of red dust from Mars whose image was taken by NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander is a major primary link, showing processes in Martian soil and the atmospheric gases. With this exciting very first microscopic image, the Phoenix atomic force microscope has mapped out these dust particles in three-dimension, detailing their shapes as tiny as 1/1000th the width of the hair of a human head.
This latest Martian image arriving from the Phoenix lander is 100 times greater in magnification than the optical microscope of the lander, which was good in itself as it had held the record for producing the most highly magnified images from another planet. But this newer microscope provides images that are 20 times smaller than that of the optical microscope. A rounded particle is seen which is approximately one-millionth of a meter across, one that is known to color the beautiful Martian sky a pink color–which continuously swirls around Mars.
According to Tom Pike, a Phoenix science team member, “Taking this image required the highest-resolution microscope operated off of Earth and a specially designed substrate to hold the Martian dust. We always knew it was going to be technically very challenging to image particles this small.”
Apparently, scrutinizing Martian dust gathers more information between the “processes in the Martian soil and gases in the atmosphere”. First used in July, the atomic microscopic set out to study the images of individual particles in the Martian soil by using a fine silicon needle which scrapes across crystals and soil particles to get the highest detailed information possible. From this, something similar to a topographical map of the Martian soil is created, showing crystal shapes and any damage by salt deposits or water corrosion.
Presently, three of the eight TEGA ovens have been used with Phoenix team scientists using the Phoenix’s robotic arm. The robotic arm has been digging trenches in different areas and depths–applying different strategies for ice and soil sample analyzation through team directions–continuing the search for life-supporting elements.
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 16th, 2008 at 8:33 pm and is filed under Mars News, Mission Objectives, Space Agency News, Technical Concerns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
