Will the soil PH be checked? Is there any equipment on the rover designed to check for metallics in the soil?
pH is not being measured by the MERs; however, there is an instrument that measures the chemical elements in the rocks and soil (including metals), and an instrument called a Mossbauer spectrometer that can detect the state that the metal iron is in. This means whether the iron is in metallic form or an oxidized form such as rust. Expert: Janice Bishop SETI Institute P.I.
