Terrestrial Clay under Microscope

Credit: NASA (See description), Posted on: Thursday, 2 October 2008, 06:14 CDT Download full size image

A scanning electron microscope captured this image of terresterial soil containing a phyllosilicate mineral from Koua Bocca, Ivory Coast, West Africa. This soil shares some similarities with Martian soil scooped by the Phoenix Lander. This image's field of view is approximately 23 microns wide.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Denver.

Photo courtesy of Michael Velbel (Michigan State University) and William Barker, (University of Wisconsin-Madison). From the image database of the Clay Minerals Society and the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland at http://www.minersoc.org/pages/gallery/claypix/index.html.

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