Spirit seems to be stuck on a rock or in loose soil right now. They are deciding on what to do about it by maybe running some tests on the other rover. Hopefully they’ll be able to get the thing moving again.
Well there it is, Phoenix has died. It hasn’t sent word since last Sunday and NASA has called it. Mission over. Of course they have lots and lots of data to go through so it’s not really over just the robot stuff. They’ll keep listening until Nov. 18th just in case but after that they stop, maybe checking again in the Marian spring to see if it wakes up. (Unlikely) I made sure my schedule was free when Phoenix was landing and watched it live. Sad to see it die but hey there’s been some cool stuff from it and will be more once it’s released. For more information head over to Phoenix’s mission home.
Phoenix hasn’t been doing to well. There was a big dust storm a little while ago that has brought the end a little closer. How? Hint: Dust blocks light. If it weren’t for that dust storm then it probably would have lasted another three weeks.
Phoenix has been spending it’s time in a mode where it is trying to charge up as much juice as it can and calling home. Only it’s been calling home at the wrong times. They will try to force it out of this mode and get working on the last bits of science it can do. Including trying to turn on the microphone. They try once already but it didn’t work. The thought is that they didn’t give it enough time to warm up before starting it. It would be pretty cool to hear the sounds of Mars. Even if it’s just super quiet with a little wind blowing. Which it will be. So here’s hoping that Phoenix can squeeze out a little bit more science.
