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This photograph shows the rasp protruding from the back of the scoop on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Robotic Arm engineering model in the Payload Interoperability Testbed at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

This is the position the rasp will assume when it drills into the Martian soil to acquire an icy soil sample for analysis.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter.