As you may have heard, the Phoenix craft on Mars (remember? seven minutes of terror?) which had already been running beyond its design lifetime, has probably sent its final message from Mars. There is not enough daily solar energy (now that it is Winter) coming in to support its energy needs.
There’s a NASA press release here, with links to the mission pages for a reminder of all the science Phoenix was able to do. (See also some related posts I did here, here, here, here, here and … best to look at the list below.) The mission continues, in that there’s a lot of data to analyze. And of course there’s a tiny, tiny chance that when the sun returns in strength, Phoenix will return. See also the Guardian’s science blog for some remarks on Phoenix’ last words.
-cvj
I walked by the Phoenix mural today on one of the buildings here at the University of Arizona. A close dear friend of mine worked on it. It would be nice to think that this mural can last long enough to continue to honor the missions to Mars for generations to come.