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Science Smallest ever space image taken by Phoenix Mars Lander
Science Smallest ever space image taken by Phoenix Mars Lander | Smallest ever space image taken by Phoenix Mars Lander |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Monday, 18 August 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 Phoenix co-investigator Urs Staufer (University of Neuchatel, Switzerland), who also participated in the development of the AFM, states, "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.” Phoenix science team member Tom Pike (Imperial College London) added, "Taking this image required the highest resolution microscope operated off 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." The NASA news release states, “The atomic force microscope maps the shape of particles in three dimensions by scanning them with a sharp tip at the end of a spring. During the scan, invisibly fine particles are held by a series of pits etched into a substrate microfabricated from a silicon wafer.” It continues, “The atomic force microscope can detail the shapes of particles as small as about 100 nanometers, about one one-thousandth the width of a human hair. That is about 100 times greater magnification than seen with Phoenix's optical microscope, which made its first images of Martian soil about two months ago. Until now, Phoenix's optical microscope held the record for producing the most highly magnified images to come from another planet.” With the success of the AFM, Staufer concluded, "I'm delighted that this microscope is producing images that will help us understand Mars at the highest detail ever. This is proof of the microscope's potential. We are now ready to start doing scientific experiments that will add a new dimension to measurements being made by other Phoenix lander instruments." And, Pike added, "After this first success, we're now working on building up a portrait gallery of the dust on Mars.” Information on the operation of the Atomic Force Microscope, along with images taken by the AFM, is found on the websites of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, California, U.S.A.) (“Atomic Force Microscope Operation”) and the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Phoenix (Arizona, U.S.A.) (“Sol 79 Press Release Videos”).
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