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Mars Phoenix Lander ends mission: good night, sweet prince
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by PEP | November 11, 2008 at 04:36 am
145 views | 14 Recommendations | 4 comments
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The saga of the Mars Phoenix Lander has apparently come to an end with death-by-freezing at the Mars North Pole.
[q url="http://www.examiner.com/x-504-Space-News-Examiner~y2008m11d10-Mars-Phoenix-Lander-ends-mission-good-night-sweet-prince"] After more than five months of successful service, the plucky little Mars Phoenix Lander has apparently frozen in the early stages of the harsh Martian winter. The Phoenix team acknowledged that the lander hadn't phoned home recently.[/q]
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PEP
Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
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SOLARLIFE
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (4)
at 05:46 on November 11th, 2008
Winter brings hibernation... can Phoenix wake up again?
at 12:02 on November 11th, 2008
. . . Apparently this one was not intended to. But it dug a meaningful ditch, which is a worthy accomplishment for a robot.
at 10:00 on November 11th, 2008
Why do we love robots? Somhow we do and are sad if they die. Minus 140°C, no battery can survive. NiMh could recover with the sun coming back in springtime, but the dust on the solar panels from the storms ?
at 03:55 on November 13th, 2008
Hi ya'll, thanks for the recommends and the comments. Appreciated!
Phoenix accomplished one heckuva lot, and its mission actually was extended. I'd earlier written about the possibility of hibernation, but this situation is so serious that it doesn't look likely. However, scientists will be listening next year. I enjoyed Phoenix's Twitters!
Here's a video tribute to Phoenix.
Aside: Highlight (obviously) didn't work. Nor did coding. Oooops.