MARS Phoenix mission canceled "NASA lost contact with it"

reply to post by ToolFanMael

Well, the dust was cleaned off of the Rovers' solar panels by wind. However, no amount of wind can prevent the winter -- and the shortened amount of daylight that comes with it.

...and THAT's what the engineers knew would happen to Phoenix. They knew all along that the winter would bring days with shortened amounts of daylight, which in turn would cause the batteries to not recharge, which in turn would make the lander die a frozen death.

This is not a mystery -- this is exactly what they expected would happen. Hence the reason for the planned length of the mission. The planned length of the mission directly correlates to the onset of Martin winter at the landing site.

[edit on 11/12/2008 by Soylent Green Is People]