Death Of An Old Friend

Unless your a romantic, you likely should skip this short blog on American technology. Its not a story that will interest most Americans. It's a story about a man who builds crystal radio's out of junk and an old friend who died on November 2, 2008. No not a man, but a machine that traveled some 49,090,600 miles and lived for 150 Martian days on the North Arctic plains [north pole], at temperatures of -195F. Yes to your disappointment, I am talking about the Phoenix Mars Lander, a machine.

The launch was on August 4, 2007 and landed on the planet Mars on May 25, 2008. It forwarded some 25,000 images, took soil samples finding perchlorate salts, calcium carbonate, sodium, potassium, magnesium, ice and water. While there the Phoenix camera's observed clouds, frost, snowfall, haze and whirlwinds. The solar cells and batteries remained charged with the help of four heaters until the sun sank to low in the sky to recharge. So on November 2, 2008, an old friend died on the surface of Mars.

But like the legendary Phoenix that flew and "lived for 500 years, burned itself to ashes on a pyre, and rose alive from the ashes to live," the Phoenix could come back to life in the spring of 2009. Unlike my crystal radio's, NASA seems to be building them better and having longer life cycles on their spacecraft, landers and rovers. Come spring on the surface of Mars there will be no flowers sprouting, but perhaps a tiny voice, that will grow stronger as the sun rises higher in the sky.

Credit: outer-space-guests.blogspot.com