Fact Sheet
Summer Days
The Phoenix lander snapped this picture of its surroundings on June 25, the first day of summer in the northern hemisphere of Mars. The lander, which is about a third of the way through its mission, has analyzed several soil samples, and is preparing to study a sample that appears to be mixed with water ice. One of the mission's goals was to determine if there is ice beneath the surface of Mars at far-northern latitudes, and scientists have already determined that the answer is yes. [NASA/JPL/Univ. Arizona/Texas A&M]
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