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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.'"

4 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. This mission was not a failure. by ProdigyPuNk · · Score: 5, Informative

    Remember that the lander was not meant to last through the Martian winter, and in fact was only tasked with a three month long mission. It lasted five months, which was longer than expected. The newer rovers are supposed to be able to survive for much longer, but this mission accomplished all that it was supposed to.

    1. Re:This mission was not a failure. by c++0xFF · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Spirit and Opportunity, among other missions, have created an expectation that whatever we send out can last virtually forever. It's almost disappointing when these things are "only" completely successful, instead of wildly exceeding our imaginations.

    2. 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...

  2. Re:Too bad they didn't use RTGs. by LWATCDR · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A. It wasn't a rover.
    B. They knew that this would happen.
    C. The only reason they didn't use RTGs was because of cost and the nut cases that would protest the launch.

    I know why they used solar. It was good enough for this mission.
    But it would have been really interesting if they where given the budget to use an RTG and had kept gathering data over the winter.
    So no knuckle head I was not criticizing their skills. Just lamenting that the mission was so limited in scope.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.