Today, Phoenix engineers told the bad news to the media: the Lander is no longer communicating with Earth and that’s probably because its mission has ended.

The power supplies for the Lander were getting short because the Martian winter forced them to do so. Its work focused on the Polar Regions and scientists were rewarded with time-lapse images of ice subliming into the thin Martian atmosphere. On October the 27th, just after Phoenix finished its last major experiment analyzing Martian soil, an unexpected dust storm hit and the batteries ran out of energy. Even if NASA scientists hoped that the onset of winter and the declining power generated by the Phoenix’s solar panels won’t stop it from sending data, it looks like they did the trick.

Firstly, Phoenix put itself into a low-energy “safe mode”, and then fell silent. It revived itself on October the 30th but it was never able to fully recharge its batteries. The solar panels did not generate enough electricity for the spacecraft to do more than just wake up. The last communication came on November the 2nd. Phoenix landed in May and its first objective was to examine the northern arctic plains, and, even if the $428 million mission was scheduled to last three months, it lasted almost six. During its stay, the Lander accomplished all of its main objectives, even if it had some problems trying to get the Martian soil samples into the spacecraft’s laboratory apparatus.

Furthermore, the spacecraft took 25,000 photographs, including panoramas of the landing and microscopic images of dust particles. After these discoveries, scientists were able to say that some regions of Mars are suitable for life. During the Martian winter, temperatures will be as low as minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit, but even so, scientists will try to revive Phoenix again, after the winter is over.