Photo: Mars Lander Stymied by Ice; Like "Scraping a Sidewalk"

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An image taken on July 7, 2008, shows the trench informally called "Snow White," where the Mars Phoenix lander is currently attempting to scrape up ice samples for analysis.

The ice is proving difficult both to break and to collect, mission scientists say, but overall the expedition is well ahead of schedule and has already yielded some intriguing results.

Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University

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