Phoenix probe mission on Mars ends: Nasa

NASA scientists said yesterday the Phoenix Mars lander has gone silent because of a lack of sunlight needed to power its batteries, after a five-month mission that produced a mother lode of scientific data from the red planet.

After operating two months longer than scientists had initially planned, the probe ceased all communications with Earth starting on November 2, said Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project manager, in a telephone conference.

"We are declaring an end of operations," Goldstein said at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The US space agency would continue to listen closely in case Phoenix revives and "phones home" but scientists say such a scenario is unlikely given the deteriorating weather conditions on Mars.

The Phoenix mission ended as anticipated because diminishing sunlight and a drop in temperatures meant the probe's solar arrays could no longer recharge the spacecraft's batteries.

In addition to shorter days, the lander is receiving less light because of a dustier Martian sky and more clouds, as the northern Mars summer changes to autumn, scientists said.

While Phoenix's work was effectively over, scientists with Nasa's Mars Exploration Program told reporters they were pleased with how the lander performed and said analysis of all the rich data collected had only just begun.