Mars probe Phoenix flexes robotic arm

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — NASA's Phoenix Mars lander flexed its robotic arm Thursday in a successful test of the key element in the probe's mission to investigate the Red Planet's soil for conditions conducive to life, NASA said.

"The arm is ready to go," said Matt Robinson of the US space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where the Phoenix mission is managed.

"Yesterday we sent commands ... down to the lander to unstow the arm, and today I am ecstatic to let you know that it was successful.

"The robotic arm is now unstowed, it's out of its launch restraints."

The 2.35 meter (7.7 foot) titanium and aluminum backhoe-like extension, with a scoop on the end to dig into the Martian arctic permafrost-like soil, unlatched its arm-locks...