PHOENIX MARS LANDER'S BEST PHOTOSby Dave Mosher
 Cold Sunset All good things must come to an end. For scientific operations of Phoenix, it was the merciless cold of the Martian north pole. Sunlight became scarcer on the Red Planet for the robot, causing surface temperatures to dip below -141 degrees Fahrenheit at night. Phoenix relied on heaters to keep its electronics and batteries functional during chilly nights, but in late October it began dipping into "lazarus mode" because not enough energy was available to power the spacecraft's science activities. Soon the lander will be caught in an endless freeze-thaw cycle: being entombed under meters of carbon dioxide and water ice during the Martian winter, then thawing in the summer. For a full-resolution image, click here. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute |
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