NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Killed By Ice 113
coondoggie writes "NASA officially ended its Phoenix Mars Lander operation today after a new image of the machine showed severe ice damage to its solar panels, and repeated attempts to contact the spacecraft had failed. 'Apparent changes in the shadows cast by the lander are consistent with predictions of how Phoenix could be damaged by harsh winter conditions. It was anticipated that the weight of a carbon-dioxide ice buildup could bend or break the lander's solar panels. [Michael Mellon of the University of Colorado] calculated hundreds of pounds of ice probably coated the lander in mid-winter.'"
Are we adding "ice" to the no-fly list? (Score:5, Funny)
Destroying one of our rovers is a hostile act!
Re:What? (Score:4, Funny)
mods, ice this troll
Re:Too bad they didn't use RTGs. (Score:1, Funny)
Maybe when you build your own rover, you can show them how it's done.
The Real Story (Score:5, Funny)
Filming was set to begin on another James Cameron movie and they had to clear out the Mars studio. Failure of the lander was the plausible story concocted to allow for the timely cessation of the project.
Re:This mission was not a failure. (Score:5, Funny)
Ironic (Score:5, Funny)
Perhaps "Phoenix" was not the best name for this project.
Not to worry... (Score:2, Funny)
Late-Breaking News from the Council: FIRE AND ICE! (Score:5, Funny)
The Illustrious Council of Elders has declared today a day of celebration. K'breel, Speaker for the Council, spake thus:
"Despite the propaganda reports to the contrary, what we killed a year ago remains dead and frozen, crushed beneath a mountain of toxic dihydrogen monoxide. The perverse pendulosity of its plumb bob [slashdot.org] waves no more!
Some say this war will end in fire, others in ice.
Reporters' gelsacs know my ire;
they are those who went with fire.
We now confirm this blue death twice,
Our gelsacs engorged with delight,
We say that for destruction ice,
Not only might,
But did, suffice!"
When the Martian Poet Laureate reported a striking similarity between the recent press release and an ancient transmission from the blue world, K'Breel had the Poet Laureate's gelsacs bobbed, frosted, and then bitten.
For the next mission (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Are we adding "ice" to the no-fly list? (Score:3, Funny)
The plane passed approximately 6 metres (20 ft) above passing cars on the A30 and the airport's Southern Perimeter road. It also passed near a car which had just dropped off the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown.
That's not a hostile act, that's just bad aiming.
Re:Are we adding "ice" to the no-fly list? (Score:1, Funny)
I told them to put flame throwers on that, but noooooo. Who is the crazy one now!!!