The Phoenix lander has been put to rest for the moment as experts on Earth are working on an unexpected data glitch which has led to the loss of some scientific information on the lander, including digital photos. It appears that some kind of data overload occurred and the device was unable to save the photos and additional data in the lander's flash memory.

The Earth team which controls Phoenix noticed the glitch after their gadget started sending the same data set all over again for about 45,000 times like a broken record. It appears that the bug has been fixed now.

The NASA scientists involved in the Phoenix Mars mission managed to resolve the soil sample analysis problem a week ago. The solution offered by NASA’s team is to use the robotic arm for the direct delivery of the soil to the Thermal and Evolve-Gas Analyzer by sprinkling the soil into the ovens.

There were about 1,000 separate particles which made it into the oven. At least four minerals were detected, and NASA reported that the soil is similar to volcanic glass which was broken down to smaller particles. However, the actual chemical analysis is still in progress and its results will be announced soon.

The first analysis attempts were botched after soil samples scooped by the robotic arm failed to pass into the oven and the experiments had to be put on hold. The first attempt to resolve the problem involved the shaking of the TEGA, which actually helped squeeze through some of the particles caught in the way. The oven opening only allows particles which are less than 1mm in diameter to pass through and unfortunately, the gathered amount was far too small to be used for tests.

Phoenix is the sixth successful landing on Mars, out of twelve total international attempts, and was built by Lockheed Martin with additions from several partners. Most notably, the Canadian Space Agency provided a high-tech meteorological station, including an innovative Laser-based atmospheric sensor; and Alliance Spacesystems, LLC built the robotic arm. Phoenix was launched on August 4 last year.