Three times smitten by my spear he pressed the dust
The Phoenix lander
has picked up some stuff, and, yup, it is red...,
and we have microscopic images of Martian dust.
30-150 micron dust on the optical microscope - dust kicked up by the lander, probably.
The scoop picked up some white stuff - probably salts they think - hope not all the hard shiny stuff they've seen in the trenches and under the lander is salt deposits.
Getting there.
More like this
"This suggests a robust biological response. These analyses support the interpretation that the Viking LR experiment did detect extant microbial life on Mars." -Bianciardi, Miller, Straat and Levin
The Phoenix lander on Mars has touched the soil and is getting ready to do some digging
Images from beneath the lander show spots of what appear to be bright consolidated surfaces, possibly sub-surface ice exposed by the lander
... well, not really, but ...