LOS ANGELES - NASA's Phoenix lander hasn't made its first dig into the Martian soil today because of another communications glitch.
The problem is in a spacecraft that relays commands from Earth to the red planet. The U.S. space agency says the orbiting Odyssey satellite failed to send the instructions for Phoenix to dig into the permafrost.
It's the second time a relay problem has delayed the Mars lander's schedule.
Phoenix was supposed to dig the first of three shallow pits.
Instead, it will perform preprogrammed commands to take images of its surroundings.
The robot landed May 25 in the north pole region of Mars.
