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Mars Lander Faces Slow Death

Posted by Soulskill on from the this-lander-will-self-destruct-in-five-months dept.

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.'"

6 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. so they want to send a human to Mars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    They want to send a human to Mars and get him back home, but they can not yet keep a robot alive?

  2. Re:Well, it's been a great track record lately... by BTWR · · Score: -1, Troll

    I have a date with an Australian on Sunday (she's from Melbourne - i'm from/we're in New York). I'll try to work the TEE thing in there. She'll wonder how I know about it, lol...

  3. Re:Happy to help a fellow geek by Miseph · · Score: 0, Troll

    Yes, I too hate to hear about dating success srories. I don't mind a good story, but if I read one more srory with a happy ending, I swear to the Gods that I will end all life on Earth.

    --
    Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
  4. Re:Oooh aaahhh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Hey, I picked this handle the same as you picked your nose.

  5. Re:NASA by SimonGhent · · Score: 1, Troll

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

    Fixed that for you Cobber.

    HTH

    --
    simon
  6. Re:Oooh aaahhh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    No, you're just single because you spend the entire day drooling all over the keyboard at the slashdot articles that you could post on and bump up your karma because you are a girl. I would truly believe that you are drooling so much because of this that you have shorted out your keyboard with drool and therefore have to buy a new keyboard whenever you read slashdot. So that is why you are in IT...first, you are a girl and have to take computer classes to be able to plug in a keyboard...second, you get the volume discount from Dell so that you can afford to buy thousands of keyboards as you persistently drool over them. Amen.