NASA Loses Contact With Mars Lander
Posted 11.11.2008 by Frank J in Science,
Mission managers said Monday that they had not heard from the NASA spacecraft for a week and that they thought it had probably fallen quiet for good.
“At this time, we’re pretty convinced that the vehicle is no longer available for us to use,” said Barry Goldstein, the project manager. “We’re actually ceasing operations, declaring an end to mission operations at this point.”
With the onset of winter and declining power generated by the Phoenix’s solar panels, managers knew the lander would succumb soon, but had hoped to squeeze out a few more weeks of weather data.
But on Oct. 27, just after Phoenix finished its last major experiment analyzing Martian soil, an unexpected dust storm hit. The batteries, already low from running the experiment, ran out of energy.
The spacecraft first put itself into a low-energy “safe mode,” then fell silent. It revived itself on Oct. 30, but, with the dust still swirling, was never able to fully recharge its batteries. Each day, the solar panels would generate enough electricity for the spacecraft to wake up, but then the batteries drained again.
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November 11th, 2008 on 7:09 am
This sucks! But really the whole project has been plagued with bad luck since day one.
Do they think that maybe in the new season… the batteries will be able to recharge? Or will it be completely dead by then? I think that season lasts for like 2-3yrs. Not sure on that though.
November 11th, 2008 on 7:17 am
They may need to use the Energizer Bunny next time. I thought the solar panels would make the Lander last for a longer time.
November 15th, 2008 on 2:52 am
bullsh**!! They didn’t lose contact. they just found something they don’t want us to know about. C’mon…nasa spends billions of $$ on this stuff and years of planning. with all they cover up they expect us to believe this B.S. Oh! we just lost contact.