Mars Phoenix Lander says good-bye

By William Atkins
Tuesday, 11 November 2008 02:41

Science - Space

According to a Monday, November 10, 2008 NASA media release, the Phoenix Mars Lander has “ceased communications” but its mission team will continue to listen to see if Phoenix “phones home” from the planet Mars.


After operating on the northern arctic Martian plains for over five months (two months longer than planned), the bitter cold of the Martian winter has finally caused the little NASA probe to stop functioning.

The declining sunshine, along with the extra dust and clouds in the Martian atmosphere, has caused the robot’s solar arrays to get insufficient sunlight in order to re-charge its batteries.

The rechargeable batteries are used to operate the spacecraft’s various scientific instruments.

The last signal received by the Phoenix mission team was on November 2, 2008.

The NASA media release is titled “Mars Phoenix Lander finishes successful work on red planet.”

Although the mission team will continue to monitor any signs of lift in the Phoenix Lander, the engineers say, its recovery “is unlikely because of the worsening weather conditions.”

Page two tells of comments from the mission team, along with facts about the the mission.