The Phoenix Lander AFM Aquires First Image of Martian Dust
This animation is a scientific illustration of the operation of NASA's Phoenix
Mars Lander's Atomic Force Microscope, or AFM. The AFM is part of Phoenix's
Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA. The AFM is
used to image the smallest Martian particles using a very sharp tip at the end
of one of eight beams. The beam of the AFM is set into vibration and brought
up to the surface of a micromachined silicon substrate. The substrate has etched
in it a series of pits, 5 micrometers deep, designed to hold the Martian dust
particles. The microscope then maps the shape of particles in three dimensions
by scanning them with the tip. At the end of the animation is a 3D representation
of the AFM image of a particle that was part of a sample informally called 'Sorceress'.
The sample was delivered to the AFM on the 38th Martian day, or sol, of the
mission (July 2, 2008). The image shows four round pits, only 5 microns in depth,
that were micromachined into the silicon substrate. A Martian particle -- only
one micrometer, or one millionth of a meter, across -- is held in the upper
left pit. The rounded particle -- shown at the highest magnification ever seen
from another world -- is a particle of the dust that cloaks Mars. Such dust
particles color the Martian sky pink, feed storms that regularly envelop the
planet and produce Mars' distinctive red soil.
PTV - PHX Lander images first martian dust partical
Run time 04.23 mins