A recent view from Mars orbit of the site where NASA’s Phoenix Mars mission landed on far-northern Mars nearly a decade ago shows that dust has covered some marks of the landing.
The Phoenix lander itself, plus its back shell and parachute, are still visible in the image taken December 21, 2017, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. But an animated-blink comparison with an image from about two months after the May 25, 2008 landing shows that patches of ground that had been darkened by the removal of dust during landing events have become coated with dust again.
In August 2008, Phoenix completed its three-month mission studying Martian ice, soil, and atmosphere. The lander worked for two additional months before reduced sunlight caused the energy to become insufficient to keep the lander functioning. The solar-powered robot was not designed to survive through the dark and cold conditions of Martian arctic winter.
For additional information about the Phoenix mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html
For additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, visit: https://mars.nasa.gov/mro/
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