Mars' Pheonix lander is dead

Bad news for the hoenix lander:

A dust storm and the onset of Martian winter have brought the Phoenix Mars Lander's mission to an end, NASA announced Monday.

edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/11/10/na...rs.lander/index.html

What a shame when you compare it against the other two golfcarts that have outstayed their welcome by 2 years and refuse to die.

Seanie.

Shame really. The two golf carts that have given so much, lull us into a sense of an almost benign environment on our neraest neighbour, sunshine on the red planet The lifetime of this lander was exceeded beyond the hopes of it's creators but the unimaginable cold finally killed it:(

Maybe one of the 'golf carts' could drive up there to it and give
it a jump start.
The first AA 'off world' rescue has to happen sometime.


Dosent it just show you how well the other two have preformed!

The article says they may try on reactivate next Martian spring. Why did they not consider placing a small nuke battery on board to take it over those dark nights?

I'm not sure but I think the electronics surviving the cold were the issue
not the power.

Barberskum wrote:

I'm not sure but I think the electronics surviving the cold were the issue
not the power.

Thought the same (as opposed to "why not throw in a couple of lithium batteries?"). They know there's "moisture" there with the (perma)frost, so that was the risk with Phoenix. With not enough solar energy to get the wattage high enough to heat it probably being one problem on Mars, saving room and weight on heavy onboard batteries in favour of more instruments could have been the trade-off.

Seanie.