In situ robotic arm operations

This article compares and contrasts the operations of the robotic manipulators on the Mars Phoenix Lander and Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs), Spirit and Opportunity. Unlike the MERs, the Phoenix Mars Lander stays in one spot at a particular geographic location on the Martian surface with exploration emphasis on vertical mobility sampling. In this article the operations of Phoenix robotic arm (RA) were described during the prime mission and compare and contrast it with MER instrument deployment device (IDD) operations. In addition, the technology gaps were identified in operations and deployment of in situ manipulators in planetary exploration.