The Phoenix has Died

[shadron]

The Phoenix mission, which discovered indisputable proof of water on Mars, went quiet and the mission has been ended by NASA. It was facing declining power output in the Martian winter when a dust storm apparently covered up enough of the solar cells' capacity to send it below the likely threshold for recovery. Like nearly all Mars missions that actually made it to the surface, it outlasted its expected lifetime by a considerable amount. It operated for 5 months, two months longer than designed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081111/sc_nm/us_mars_phoenix_5

 

[Andronicus]

There is still a slim chance it will revive in the spring. Even if it doesn't, hurray for the observation of Martian snow.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

There is still a slim chance it will revive in the spring. Even if it doesn't, hurray for the observation of Martian snow.

We can hope for the headline "Phoenix Revives in the Fire of Spring".

 

[thesyntaxera]

The Phoenix mission, which discovered indisputable proof of water on Mars, went quiet and the mission has been ended by NASA. It was facing declining power output in the Martian winter when a dust storm apparently covered up enough of the solar cells' capacity to send it below the likely threshold for recovery. Like nearly all Mars missions that actually made it to the surface, it outlasted its expected lifetime by a considerable amount. It operated for 5 months, two months longer than designed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081111/sc_nm/us_mars_phoenix_5

Perhaps some of that dust will blow off? I suppose once the thing goes dead though it may not fire back up.

 

[catbasket]

Emily's Planetary Society blog.

 

[Cuddles]

Perhaps some of that dust will blow off? I suppose once the thing goes dead though it may not fire back up.

Yeah. Once it loses power, it loses heating, and once it loses heating, it will quickly get cold enough to destroy the electronics. As it gets deeper into Martian winter, the available of sunlight goes down while the heating required goes up. If it doesn't come back very soon, it'll be dead for good. Even now it may be too late. Ah well, it had a good run, and we've hardly begun to see the science from the data it gathered.

 

[BenBurch]

Still, I've seen things cold soak and come back that shouldn't have. But never anything this complex!