NASA declares Phoenix Mars lander dead

From Health & Science - International Herald Tribune:

With the onset of winter and declining power generated by the solar panels of the lander, managers knew it would succumb soon but had hoped to squeeze out a few more weeks of weather data. "At this time, we're pretty convinced that the vehicle is no longer available for us to use," said Barry Goldstein, the project manager. "We're actually ceasing operations, declaring an end to mission operations at this point." The spacecraft first put itself into a low-energy "safe mode," then fell silent. It revived itself on Oct. 30, but, with the dust still swirling, it was never able to fully recharge its batteries. The last communication came Nov. 2. Goldstein said the orbiting spacecraft would continue to listen for a few more weeks on the faint chance that the lander defied their expectations.

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