Mars Lander Faces Slow Death

Riding with Robots writes "It's the beginning of the end for the Phoenix Mars Lander. As winter approaches in the Martian arctic, NASA says it's in a 'race against time and the elements' in its efforts to prolong the robotic spacecraft's life. Starting today, mission managers will begin to gradually shut the lander's systems down, hoping to conserve dwindling solar power and thereby extend the remaining systems' useful life. 'Originally scheduled to last 90 days, Phoenix has completed a fifth month of exploration in the Martian arctic. As expected, with the Martian northern hemisphere shifting from summer to fall, the lander is generating less power due to shorter days and fewer hours of sunlight reaching its solar panels. At the same time, the spacecraft requires more power to run several survival heaters that allow it to operate even as temperatures decline.'"

Comments

NASA

[Sasayaki]

Honestly, as an Australian, it's great to see NASA in the news for something which can't be summarised as: "It blew up".

Needs more funding IMHO.

Re:NASA

[Pikiwedia.net]

NASA have been far more successful with the mars rovers and Phoenix than ESA's Beagle, which probably made it to the martian surface (in burning pieces).

Re:NASA

[Farmer Tim]

NASA may have a better record with robots, but ESA has never lost a single astronaut. Admittedly that is through lack of trying...

Re:NASA

[cdrudge]

Pfft. Anyone with security clearance over Top Secret knows that Beagle made it successfully and recorded 13 seconds of video before being destroyed. Has NASA's probes ever found aliens? I think not.

Re:NASA

[SimonGhent]

If we're going to name the seasons after their properties

We're taking this approach as of 2009 in the UK.

The new seasons will be "Cold and Wet", "Wet and Windy", "Wet" and "Wet and Dark".

Doesn't really matter how they map to the current seasons.

Re:NASA

[Speare]

...at least the US is trying.

As another USian, I have to say that in many ways, the US is very trying.

Re:NASA

[zippthorne]

Of course they haven't. Unless they run into another lander, they can only encounter natives.

When the lander dies on Mars...

[dotancohen]

...can we then assume that since something _died_ on Mars that there was once something _living_ on Mars?

Re:Why heaters?

[danhuby]

The heaters serve the purpose of keeping the electronics within tested survivable limits.

IANARS, I just RTFA

Oblig.

[cosmocain]

I, for one, mourn our dead robotic overloads.

Re:what I do not understand.

[timmarhy]

see this is why NASA is putting robots on mars and you aren't. try freezing your dick to minus -225 and see if it's still functional next season.

ok sorry i'm being a little harsh there it's been a long day. solder will crack and oils will freeze and expand busting caps etc. that's why the lander might not make it through the winter.

and finally after the cameras fail...

[Anonymous Coward]

the native martians will appear and take it into their homes for the winter and nurse it back to health...

Happy to help a fellow geek

[MichaelSmith]

...with Melbourne conversation starters.

• Don't you just hate rugby?
• Funny October we are having. Almost as hot as February.
• Washed your car lately? Of course not (water restrictions)
• Sorry you are missing the Melbourne Cup? Do you like boozing up in the Flemington car park?
• What did you think of the Grand Final? Sorry that bunch of wankers from Hawthorn won it. Thought we had seen the last of them.

Should be enough to get going. No boobytraps there. I promise.

Re:Happy to help a fellow geek

[sortius_nod]

You sure she's not a Kiwi who lives in Melbourne? There's a lot of them here. :D

Re:Well, it's been a great track record lately...

[Ihmhi]

Unfortunately, the Russians were unable to allocate gyros and other mechanisms for the golf-swinging arm of the robot in their design, so their funding was heavily slashed.

Re:what I do not understand.

[phillous]

you must be new here?

Re:Oooh aaahhh

[that IT girl]

...Who licked the red off your candy this morning? Geez...

Re:Well, it's been a great track record lately...

[kungfugleek]

We now have a fleet of spacecraft orbiting and on the surface of Mars...

Makes me wonder if anyone on Mars has welcomed their new robotic earthling overlords...

Re:Oooh aaahhh

[Anonymous Coward]

Uranus

To Boldly Go

[rossdee]

"And we stopped being a "colony" as of Federation... 1901"

Australia is part of the Federation?
Cool
Do they have Warp Drive?

Re:Nuclear batteries

[Anonymous Coward]

Pu238 is on every terrorist's Christmas wish-list.

Even the Islamic ones? Or don't they count?

Re:what I do not understand.

[ColdWetDog]

Or even better, do the "rose in the liquid nitrogen" trick and slap it on the table - THAT will impress the coeds.

Idiot Geek. You GIVE the rose TO the coed (intact, NOT frozen). You go somewhere else and play with the liquid nitrogen.

No wonder you folks never get laid.

Re:Nuclear batteries

[ColdWetDog]

"We're sorry ladies and gentlemen, Florida is now closed.

That would be a feature, not a bug.

How to make it last another year

[heroine]

Obama could make it run for another year.