I’m a little behind the times on noticing this gem, but perhaps you are as well.  You can follow what’s happening with the Mars Phoenix lander on Twitter!  NASA has created a Twitter feed where they send short updates on the lander’s progress, submit links to images and other information from the lander, and occasionally answer submitted questions, written first person from the point of view of the lander itself.   It’s interesting to get an idea of what the lander is really doing out there. Currently the lander is testing the ice it found on Mars:

My Earth-based twin is also practicing so engineers can see what works best. This might be my chance to use the “rasp” to drill into the ice 03:28 PM July 08, 2008

@ZorkFox In fact, the rovers have 2 Earth-based twins (1 each) in a testbed at JPL. They practice tricky moves before Spirit & Oppy have to. 04:49 PM July 08, 2008

@sleh, Yes I can see Jupiter from here! Saturn’s also in view (from Earth too) so I can wave to my buddy @CassiniSaturn (a Twitter newbie). 10:52 PM July 11, 2008

Shaved ice anyone? Today I’m using a rasp to make and collect ice shavings. Then watch to see how fast shavings sublimate: http://is.gd/UoW 05:30 PM July 15, 2008

Test rasping of ice yestersol went great. Ice shavings showed little change over hours - good news for sending later samples to instruments. about 22 hours ago

Good Q @aar0nh. I’m not a life detection mission. I’m looking for clues (organics, minerals, history of water) to determine habitability. about 13 hours ago

By habitability, I mean determine if area could ever support life, past or present.Future missions could go to these zones to look for life about 12 hours ago

Last Q/A for now. @williamsmith Next Mars rover (Mars Science Lab) launches in ‘09. Being built at JPL, it’s huge (and has a laser). Cool. about 11 hours ago

Check it out, it’s well worth viewing, and great for science geeks.

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