Phoenix coming to the end of its mission on Mars by Zuzana Zelenakova

NASA Mars Lander Phoenix was sent to Mars to collect samples of soil on the planet and find out more about its atmosphere, it landed there in late spring this year. The Phoenix mission was originally planned for three months on the “red planet”, but has exceeded the expectations of all by more than two months now. However, it already faces some technical difficulties, the most serious among them being the gradual decline in solar energy that is further expected to reduce until the Lander ends its mission by the end of the year. Before that happens the Phoenix team is going to attempt to activate the microphone with which the Phoenix is equipped and capture some sounds on Mars. "For nearly three months after landing, the sun never went below the horizon at our landing site," said Barry Goldstein, JPL Phoenix project manager. "Now it is gone for more than four hours each night, and the output from our solar panels is dropping each week. Before the end of October, there won't be enough energy to keep using the robotic arm." Setting sun means also the colder atmosphere which will only contribute to the end of Phoenix´s functioning. These days the daytime temperatures are going down under -30 C, the nighttime temperatures are somewhere around -90 C in average (by the half of November this number will rise to -120 C). After the point (after October presumably) where the Phoenix is no longer able to collect samples it will basically turn into a weather station. Another problem is the frost which began to form in the area around Phoenix´s landing site. For now the Lander is safe from this threat, it is warmer than the ground around it. "It's a bit like the top of a relatively warm computer, if you like," said Phoenix meteorological team member Peter Taylor.


related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20081008/sc_space/frozendeathloomsforphoenixmarslander;_ylt=Amfa0nfCfebMTb9KFinbMmes0NUE

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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