Active on the Red Planet last 6 months, the robot Phoenix has ceased to function on 02 November. NASA announced the end of the mission, but watches a final burst of the probe.

Initialement scheduled to run 90 days, the Phoenix will probe resisted more than five months in harsh conditions at the North Pole of Mars. But the winter was born in fatal Lander, which sent its last signal burst on November 2.

Since October 30, the robot was in idle mode to compensate for a sharp drop of energy related to the reduction of sun exposure but a storm of dust that has clogged its solar panels.

NASA said on Monday evening, the closure of Phoenix “while announcing maintain a listening watch during the next three weeks if the tube, like the mythical bird, raise. However, engineers consider this possibility very unlikely because of deteriorating weather conditions expected on Mars.

Phoenix arrived in May 2008 on the planet Mars. This project took much of the program of Mars Polar Lander, who had to land near the south pole but failed to landing. 

Artist’s view of the robot Phoenix in the fading light of the Sun. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona)

The purpose of this mission was to study the mineralogical composition of the soil near the north pole of Mars. According to data from the Mars Odyssey, the basement of the Arctic plain indeed holds large amounts of water ice.

Phoenix is equipped with a robotic arm to scratch the soil and mini ovens to heat samples and vaporize the ice. This objective has mobilized a large part of the mission. Since late summer a race against the clock has pledged to finish the analysis before the energy reserves depleted Phoenix. The work was made more difficult by the problem of opening the oven and the nature of Martian soil, more compact than expected. Samples are trapped in a mini-board laboratories.

Phoenix has already helped detect calcium carbonates, minerals that form on Earth in the presence of liquid water. The robot also had the privilege of seeing snow fall on March snow which was sprayed before reaching the ground.