Mars rovers roll into fifth year

Spirit landed five years ago, with Opportunity just 21 days later.  They were expected to last 90 days.

Looks like the Mars Phoenix mission has ended

The sad news was sent out via Twitter.  The last Twitter post “it wrote” was binary for “Triumph”.

Mars Phoenix lander finds ice

First public news was a Twitter tweet:

Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!

After digging in a spot, several crumbs of material disappeared, melted, indicating water based ice.  Precisely what Phoenix was looking for.

P. S. Yes, the lander said, “w00t”.

Mars Phoenix lander has a Twitter account

Someone at NASA is Twittering on it’s behalf (when Twitter works, of course).  Today’s gem:

Team has named 3 spots where I’m going to collect samples: baby bear, mama bear, and papa bear. One of them should be just right :D

And yesterday’s:

I’ve got plenty of energy from my solar panels, so team has upped my work hours from 9a - 4p to 8a - 6:30p. No OT :-( but more science

He’ll even answer some questions if you @ him (her?).

Images from ‘Phoenix’, the latest lander to visit Mars

From NASA’s press release:

NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft landed in the northern polar region of Mars today to begin three months of examining a site chosen for its likelihood of having frozen water within reach of the lander’s robotic arm.

Radio signals received at 4:53:44 p.m. Pacific Time (7:53:44 p.m. Eastern Time) confirmed the Phoenix Mars Lander had survived its difficult final descent and touchdown 15 minutes earlier. The signals took that long to travel from Mars to Earth at the speed of light.