Phoenix Mars Lander Dying, but Scores Guest Blogging Spot

When Phoenix landed on May 25, it was the start of summer on the Martian arctic circle, land of the midnight sun.

The probe worked well enough for NASA to extend its planned 90-day mission until the end of the September, and later to mid-November. But with summer slipping into autumn and the sun dipping below the horizon for longer and longer periods of time, Phoenix has been struggling to generate enough power from its solar cells to keep functioning. It is dark now for more than seven hours a day.

We'd like to introduce our newest guest blogger—the Phoenix Mars Lander. With a successful mission starting to wind down as a cold winter rapidly descends upon its landing site in the Martian arctic, we're pretty happy that Phoenix, (already a prolific Twitterer) has agreed to look back with us on its amazing life over the course of its final days on Mars.

One of the most common questions I’m asked, and one of the most difficult to explain, is whether I knew going in that this mission would cost me my life. The answer to that is yes, of course, and there’s not a single robotic explorer in our solar system that doesn’t know it faces the same fate. Unlike all of you, most of us can’t go home again.