Mars lander has probably carked it, says NASA The Phoenix robot lander, situated in the arctic dune seas of Mars, has ceased communicating and NASA does not expect to hear from it again. The onset of autumn in the chilly polar plains of the Red Planet has, as was expected, meant that the probe's solar panels can no longer supply sufficient power to keep it running. …
Now all they need to do is send an engineer with a mop to wipe off the dust from the solar panels. He can then also fix the furnace and stuff it with as much dirt as needed for it to finally do its job.
Oh, of course, one could just send a geologist with a proper toolkit and a shovel in the first place, instead of that remote controlled toy from the Science Museum. Before you flame me - I know, it's not from the Science Museum, it's from the Smithsonian :-)
In before the 'waste of money', 'why wasn't it designed to last through the winter', 'why wasn't it nuclear-powered', 'why wasn't it a rover', 'why didn't it have better cameras' etc comments.
Well done to the University of Arizona and NASA peeps. Getting up and going to work on Mars in the morning must have been a blast. Well done on getting the project up and running and on to the surface of Mars at all, in fact.
Al things considered (with apologies to NPR) NASA did a good job though they may have missed a few things mentioned above by those with 20/20 hindsight. Thay have paved the way for others to follow. However, for more important, this may be their swansong, their OPUS PROBE-CHEMBULISTICUM, their sunset... as we can no longer afford these games. We are now whipping our taxpayers and using leeches to drain their blood, so the executives of AIG and other big business can maintain their lavish lifestyles and golden parachutes.
Now we are watching India as a rising space exploring star.
The title says it all really, they weren't sure what to truely expect and you never know maybe just maybe someone though it might get a bit cold and have wrapped the electronics so it's not quite as cold on the inside as the outside and they let the electronics warm up enough...
Will be fun to see what happens come April / May when it hopefully, boots back up because someone wrote it in but didn't tell anyone...
in the face of the poor track record of Mars landers getting even as far as the landing part of the operation, Phoenix has delivered admirably in what have proven to be very tricky conditions, and managing to extend its mission by nearly 50% must go down as a great achievement. My congratulations go to all involved, and I'm looking forward to the results that are still to come.
Until (if?) the Mars Science Laboratory arrives, let's not forget the little rovers that could, Spirit and Opportunity, now heading towards an astonishing 5th year of trundling about the Martian plains.
Haven't heard anything about this "lander" for a while...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/617184.stm
Why drive across Mars when you can fly across the planet?
Meanwhile, looks as though Aber's CompSci dept has been up to other things...such as developing a robot scientist (I kid you not!)...and breaking the world record for long distance unicycling (must be the sea air...)
For Phoenix, next spring is Oct 2009 next summer is May 2010, and Phoenix will probably spend much of the time until then under a cap of frozen CO2, where the temp will get down to about -180F, cracking the solar panels and circuit boards. So it is unlikely, if not impossible, that Phoenix will be re-reborn. That said, I believe the Russians are hoping that she does survive the spell in the freezer, and will be unlocked for other networks afterwards.
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