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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Killed By Ice

Posted by Soulskill on from the wonder-if-it-will-rise-again dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA officially ended its Phoenix Mars Lander operation today after a new image of the machine showed severe ice damage to its solar panels, and repeated attempts to contact the spacecraft had failed. 'Apparent changes in the shadows cast by the lander are consistent with predictions of how Phoenix could be damaged by harsh winter conditions. It was anticipated that the weight of a carbon-dioxide ice buildup could bend or break the lander's solar panels. [Michael Mellon of the University of Colorado] calculated hundreds of pounds of ice probably coated the lander in mid-winter.'"

11 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. Are we adding "ice" to the no-fly list? by rbanzai · · Score: 4, Funny

    Destroying one of our rovers is a hostile act!

    1. Re:Are we adding "ice" to the no-fly list? by Smauler · · Score: 2, Funny

      The plane passed approximately 6 metres (20 ft) above passing cars on the A30 and the airport's Southern Perimeter road. It also passed near a car which had just dropped off the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown.

      That's not a hostile act, that's just bad aiming.

    2. Re:Are we adding "ice" to the no-fly list? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I told them to put flame throwers on that, but noooooo. Who is the crazy one now!!!

  2. Re:What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    mods, ice this troll

  3. Re:Too bad they didn't use RTGs. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Maybe when you build your own rover, you can show them how it's done.

  4. The Real Story by nacturation · · Score: 4, Funny

    Filming was set to begin on another James Cameron movie and they had to clear out the Mars studio. Failure of the lander was the plausible story concocted to allow for the timely cessation of the project.

    --
    Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  5. Re:This mission was not a failure. by TrippTDF · · Score: 5, Funny

    If Spirit and Opportunity were really worth their salt, the would be on their way down to fix Phoenix... but they are such Divas after all the years of attention, you know THAT will never happen...

  6. Ironic by wcrowe · · Score: 4, Funny

    Perhaps "Phoenix" was not the best name for this project.

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
  7. Not to worry... by relikx · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Phoenix will rise from the...well, not ashes, but dendritic crystals perhaps.

  8. Late-Breaking News from the Council: FIRE AND ICE! by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Illustrious Council of Elders has declared today a day of celebration. K'breel, Speaker for the Council, spake thus:

    "Despite the propaganda reports to the contrary, what we killed a year ago remains dead and frozen, crushed beneath a mountain of toxic dihydrogen monoxide. The perverse pendulosity of its plumb bob waves no more!

    Some say this war will end in fire, others in ice.
    Reporters' gelsacs know my ire;
    they are those who went with fire.

    We now confirm this blue death twice,
    Our gelsacs engorged with delight,
    We say that for destruction ice,
    Not only might,
    But did, suffice!"

    When the Martian Poet Laureate reported a striking similarity between the recent press release and an ancient transmission from the blue world, K'Breel had the Poet Laureate's gelsacs bobbed, frosted, and then bitten.

  9. For the next mission by WinstonWolfIT · · Score: 2, Funny

    Next time, send Wall-E and a cockroach.