Other Voices: R.I.P., Phoenix

The last communication from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander came Nov. 2. It is presumed dead, a victim of faltering power and worsening weather conditions on a desolate planet millions of miles away.

But what a plucky little explorer this Phoenix lander was.

Phoenix was launched Aug. 4, 2007, and reached the Red Planet on May 25, farther north than any previous spacecraft. Its mission was to have lasted three months. But Phoenix nearly doubled its life span. It dug, scooped, baked, sniffed and tasted soil on Mars for more than five months. Phoenix verified that there was water-ice beneath the surface, a discovery whose full implications aren't yet known.

Phoenix was a relentless cataloger of its brief journey, snapping 25,000 pictures. And Phoenix rarely took time off, conducting scientific investigations on 149 of 152 days. (Given Phoenix's exemplary work record, we suspect those three down days had more to do with its human handlers here on Earth.)

Phoenix is survived by the Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its fellow explorers, Opportunity and Spirit, which are still going strong.

Phoenix also is survived by its legions of fans back home. They are hoping against hope that the silence from the arctic Martian north merely means Phoenix is conserving its dwindling energy supplies as autumn approaches. But the scientists were talking about Phoenix in the past tense. And so are we. It's cold, dark, dusty and cloudy up there. The chance for survival is infinitesimal — even for a lander named after the mythical creature that never dies.