Good News From Mars: Phoenix Fills Oven

"Mars Soil Sample Finally Delivered to Phoenix Instrument "
Space.com (June 11. 2008)

"Scientists were finally able to deliver a soil sample to an instrument aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, after several frustrating days of failed attempts, mission controllers announced.

"The welcome news came on Wednesday morning, when Phoenix beamed back the results of its activities from the previous day to scientists on Earth."

I suppose the old saying, "better late than never" applies here. And, there's an intriguing mystery in why the Phoenix team had such a hard time getting that first sample:

"Just why the soil took such coaxing to get into TEGA is a mystery. The soil is unlike anything scientists expected to encounter, said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith, as it tends to clump together in little clods."

The Martian soil's behavior reminded me a bit of Red River Valley gumbo - soil that's great for farming: but let it dry out, and you've got something that's a little more like concrete than what most people think of as dirt.

I'm sure that the Martian soil isn't 'gumbo,' but I'm looking forward to learning what makes it so resistant to being shaken apart.