Explanation:
A flat, smooth, shiny feature dubbed the
Snow Queen
is near the top of
this color mosaic
of the surface beneath the
Phoenix Mars Lander.
Recorded with the lander's
robotic arm
camera as it was maneuvered to
look under the lander, the region also includes a leg and
plate-sized footpad.
An intriguing detail near the footpad at about the 2 o'clock position,
is a metal
spring partially buried in
martian soil,
a piece of the arm's now opened biobarrier.
The smooth Snow Queen feature is strongly suspected to be
ice originally just under the soil, uncovered by the thruster rockets
as Phoenix set down on the
north polar
plains of Mars.
In fact, the apparent holes or depressions in the Snow Queen's
otherwise flat surface are located just under the thrusters.
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