Mars Phoenix Lander Croaks

Johnny 5...Not So Alive

Welp, it was fun learning about our Martian overlords while it lasted, but the NASA Phoenix Lander has succumbed to the winter [Bloomberg]:

The solar-powered Phoenix Lander, which searched for signs of life on Mars, has succumbed to frigid weather and a dust storm after five months on the Red Planet.

The golf cart-size probe survived two months longer than expected, making its last radio contact Nov. 2, NASA said yesterday. Windy, dusty weather obscured the sun and probably forced the probe to drain its batteries while powering heaters, said mission manager Barry Goldstein in a call with reporters from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The mission came with a hefty price tag of $475M, but it was still a much better investment than throwing away billions to those dickheads at AIG. R.I.P.

Waxy has a link to an interview with the woman who twittered in the first-person for the now deceased robot.