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Emily Lakdawalla • Aug 15, 2008

Phoenix sol 79: TEGA oven 7 opened

Images returned from sol 79 show that the Phoenix team has commanded open the doors over oven number 7. This is the fourth (out of eight) TEGA oven to be opened. It's on the same side of the instrument as the problematic doors on ovens 4 and 5. It opened the same way the oven 4 doors did -- the endmost door opened perfectly, while the door more toward the middle of the instrument opened partially. Looks like they are getting ready to grab that sample from Burn Alive. Thanks to Daniel Crotty for the lovely color before-and-after animation.

TEGA instrument on sols 61 and 79

NASA / JPL / UA / Texas A & M / color animation by Daniel Crotty

TEGA instrument on sols 61 and 79
On sol 79, the doors opened on TEGA oven 7, in preparation to receive a sample from the trench titled Burn Alive. This animation compares the appearance of TEGA on sol 79 with sol 61, before the doors were opened. The doors on TEGA oven 7 appear to have opened similarly to the ones on oven 4: the door at the outer edge of the instrument opened fully, while the interior one only opened partially.