The Mars Phoenix Lander, which detected snow falling on Mars, water ice, and beamed back pictures of clouds has been declared dead by NASA. Mars Phoenix Lander has run out of power. The lack of suitable sunlight, as well as a dustier sky, led to the inability to power up Phoenix’s batteries.
The $400-million Phoenix spacecraft was launched on Aug. 4, 2007, and landed May 25, 2008, on the northern polar region of Mars. The goal was to spend just three months looking for evidence that the planet could support life in the past, present or future. But the mission was so successful it was extended to over five months.
Elsewhere on Mars, the tiny wheeled robot, Mars Spirit Rover lives on. She communicated via the Mars Odyssey orbiter today, right at the time when ground controllers had told it to, prompting shouts of “She’s talking!” among the rover team at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
“This means Spirit has not gone into a fault condition and is still being controlled by sequences we send from the ground,” said John Callas of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., project manager for Spirit and its twin, Opportunity.
Charles Elachi shares stories from NASA’s legendary Jet Propulsion Lab — including tales and video from the Mars Rover project.
Additional Dailywireless articles include; Mars Phoenix Lander: Mission Accomplished, Mars Update, The Ultimate Scoop and Mars Landing Sunday.
