On Tuesday NASA gave the orders to the most recent mars lander top extend its eight foot robotic arm and start digging for ice, but they couldn't get through to the robot because one of the orbiters UHF radio had shut off causing a delay in the message. NASA used the second mars orbiter odyssey to relay the command to phoenix. However they couldn't get the orders to extend the arm until Wednesday and even then it was a two day process, making the arm ready for extending on Thursday. The arm will eventually dig the soil around it, looking for ice that is believed to be within inches to a foot below the surface. As well as digging the robot well look for traces of organic life in the ice.

This is amazing now not only do we have the two mars rovers on mars but we also have a construction bot to dig for ice for us. If they do find organic traces of life in the ice what then? Are we supposed to pack up and start colonizing mars?