Re: Phoenix - Mars landing preview webcast
 

Front page on Yahoo, top news story on Wiki as Joe said, coverage on CNN. Good to see people taking an interest in science.

Re: Phoenix - Mars landing preview webcast
 

Congrats on a successful landing! Watching the replay I now know how the big boys (and girls) hold their breaths during autonomous mode. :) Ya only get one shot for this!

Re: Phoenix - Mars landing preview webcast
 

Wow, are we at the 3 month mark already?!
Congrats all!

Re: Phoenix - Mars landing preview webcast
 

NASA extended the Phoenix mission to the end of September. The sun is now setting for over an hour each Sol (Mars day): Mars sunrise

Mars daylight will continue to decrease as the mid-Sol sun gets lower in the sky until the Arctic winter sets in (when the sun will no longer appear). Already, Phoenix has observed frost forming on the surface. By the end of October, there will not be enough sun energy on the solar panels to keep the batteries charged. After that, in the long Arctic night, carbon dioxide frost will accumulate on Phoenix and the surrounding landscape.

The following spring, the sun will again rise and the frost will sublime. If there isn't too much dust left behind and somehow the batteries/electronics survive the extreme deep freeze, Phoenix may come alive again. There is a "Lazarus" mode for the lander that would allow communications to commence should Phoenix survive the winter.

Check out the Phoenix Twitter, there's some very interesting discussion posted there. Some of the Phoenix Ops and Science team are participating as well, so you're able to get the real "scoop" on the mission.