PHOENIX MARS LANDER - R.I.P.

As was expected, the Phoenix Mars Lander has effectively shut down due to lack of energy. Scientists at NASA have been dreading this day, for the extremely successful Phoenix Mars Lander mission had to end eventually. Since the mission was to try and find signs of water and possible life on Mars, the Phoenix Lander was sent to the North Pole region of the Red Planet. The advantages there were that satellite imagery had shown possible surface ice, and the terrain was relatively flat and "easy" to navigate.
The problem lay in that Mars is inclined much like the Earth in it's rotation, and, like the Earth, the north and south poles have whole periods of direct sunlight, followed by long periods of no sunlight at all. That is the Martian winter, which rapidly approached the Phoenix Mars Lander. The Phoenix Lander works off of solar power. Here is an image of the Phoenix Mars Lander with it's solar cell array fully open.

A severe dust storm also coated the Lander's solar cells with fine silica dust, making it that much harder to maintain the power supply. The mission managed to have 5 full months of operation, far longer than the original month time-table. Once the spring thaw arrives, the NASA scientists will try to restart the Lander, but they are not holding out much hope. The last signal was received on November 2nd. Here is the home-page for the Phoenix Mars mission.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is Nearing It's End

from Space.com

After more than four months on the arctic plains of the red planet, NASA's
Phoenix Mars Lander's days are finally numbered.As the sun begins to set for the
frigid Martian winter, the spacecraft will lose its energy supply, freeze and
eventually fall into a mechanical coma from which it will likely never wake
up.

After years and years of failed missions to Mars, and of catastrophic errors, it is sad to see one of the most successful robotic missions ever attempted by NASA come to a close. The Mars Landers have sent back invaluable information and images, and have far exceeded their original 3 month timetables. The Phoenix Mars Lander is in the northern "arctic" region of Mars and is rapidly losing power. It receives most of it's energy from solar cells and the long dark winter on Mars is about to begin.

Due to Mars' inclination, the northern and southern poles are either facing full time sunlight or facing away from the sun with constant darkness and bitter cold.
The Lander was provided with what scientists call a "Lazarus Mode," a re-boot program that may start the Lander and try to communicate with earth when, and if, the solar array manages to get new sunlight energy in a few months.

That would be fucking cool as shit if it were to successfully "hibernate" and then begin to send back data again after the Mars winter. -FUPPETS- wishes the Phoenix Mars Lander all the luck in the Solar System.