NASA announced today communications from the Phoenix Mars Lander have ceased.  The expected power drain on the spacecraft amid the onset of Martian winter has finally signaled the end of a very successful mission.  There’s just not enough sunlight to recharge the batteries.
The good news; NASA got more than the anticipated amount of scientific data.  More than 25,000 pictures, soil analysis and detailed weather observations from 152 days on Mars contributed to years of scientific data received by project teams for NASA, JPL and the University of Arizona.
So far scientists have discovered small concentrations of salts, a mildly alkaline [...]

Mission engineers at NASA’S Jet Propulsion Laboratory are looking for ways to conserve power onboard the Phoenix Mars Lander.  The spacecraft has far surpassed it’s lifetime expectancy by lasting into a fifth month of functionality.  It was only scheduled to last for three months after landing in the Martian polar region.
As autumn weather conditions deteriorate and temperatures fall, the Phoenix Mars Lander uses more power than it generates, so it’s only a matter of time before the robot explorer will expire.  It’s a real tribute to the engineering teams how well this spacecraft has exceeded it’s intended capacity for scientific [...]

JPL/NASA/University of Arizona News Release: 2008-090 May 30, 2008
Scientists have discovered what may be ice that was exposed when soil was blown away as NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft landed on Mars on Sunday May 25th.  The possible ice appears in an image the robotic arm camera took underneath the lander, near a footpad.
“We could very well be seeing rock, or we could be seeing exposed ice in the retrorocket blast zone,” said Ray Arvidson of Washington University , St. Louis , Mo., co-investigator for the robotic arm.  “We’ll test the two ideas by getting more data, including color data, from the [...]

JPL/NASA/University of Arizona News Release: 2008-083 for May 26, 2008
A telescopic camera in orbit around Mars caught a view of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander suspended from its parachute during the lander’s successful arrival at Mars Sunday evening, May 25th.
The image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter marks the first time ever one spacecraft has photographed another one in the act of landing on Mars.
Meanwhile, scientists pored over initial images from Phoenix , the first ever taken from the surface of Mars’ polar regions.
“We can see cracks in the troughs that make us think [...]

NASA has confirmed a signal from the Phoenix Lander that it has finally landed on the surface of Mars. (4:53 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday May 25, 2008)
Phoenix Mars Mission http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

NASA Phoenix Mars Lander www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main
“Mars is literally pulling on our spacecraft, and at the same time it is pulling on our emotions,” Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith, of the University of Arizona , Tucson , said early Sunday afternoon.
“We are excited at how close we are right now to beginning our study of a site where Martian water ice will be within our reach, [...]

It’s just a few hours until NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander makes it’s landing attempt on the planet Mars. It’s headed for the Martian arctic, which is farther north than any other spacecraft has landed on the red planet. In fact, only five landings have been successful, out of the eleven previous attempts.
Shortly after the annual 500-mile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Phoenix will be approaching Mars at about 12,750 miles per hour. After it enters the top of the Martian atmosphere at that velocity, it must use superheated friction with the atmosphere, a strong parachute and [...]