More ice!

The lander has exposed more ice on the Red Planet.

From Andrea Thompson at Space.com:

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander used its robotic arm to expose more of the hard icy layer just below the Martian surface so that it can more easily gather a sample of the material for analysis.

The trench, informally called "Snow White," was about 8 by 12 inches (20 by 30 centimeters) after digging by the arm Saturday. Mission controllers sent commands to the spacecraft Monday to further extend the length of the trench by about 6 inches (15 centimeters).

Scientists said tests in a lab on Earth suggested more area must be exposed in order to collect a proper sample.

"Right now, there is not enough real estate of dark icy soil in the trench to do a sample acquisition test and later a full-up acquisition" for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA), said Ray Arvidson, Phoenix's "dig czar," from Washington University in St. Louis. The TEGA instrument bakes samples of the Martian dirt in tiny ovens and analyzes the vapors given off to determine the composition of the regolith.

Keep trenching, Phoenix! You've got a dig czar on your side.