Product Features

Soil Scoop and Precision Sampler

The ISAD, sometimes called the Phoenix Scoop, is both a soil scoop and a precision ice-sampling tool integrated on the end of the Phoenix lander’s robotic arm. The ISAD scoop will initially be used to dig into the surface surrounding the lander and acquire soil samples. These samples will then be delivered to science instruments for examination.

In the coming weeks, the robotic arm will use the ISAD to dig a trench deep enough to access layers of water-ice bearing soil. This icy soil will be obtained using a high speed rasp device housed within the ISAD scoop. The icy soil will then be transferred to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer instrument onboard the spacecraft for chemical analysis.  

Honeybee designed, built and tested the ISAD in only 14 months, after the mission’s science payload team determined that they needed a vast improvement on the method of gathering samples from the strongest icy soil targets anticipated at the landing site.  

Deployed on Mars as Part of Phoenix Mars Mission

The Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corporation’s Icy Soil Acquisition Device (ISAD) has been deployed for the first time on Mars this Saturday or Sunday.  

The Phoenix Mars Mission landed in the Martian arctic on May 25 to investigate the water ice below its surface. The mission’s goal is twofold: to add to the growing body of knowledge of the history of water on Mars, and to determine if the Martian arctic soil could support life. The ISAD plays a critical role in accomplishing these goals by serving as the primary means of acquiring the samples necessary to make these assessments.