Phoenix - End of Mission Options

[Deimos]

NASA Teleconference Today about Status of Phoenix Mars Lander

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media teleconference at 4 p.m. EST today, Monday, Nov. 10, to discuss the status of the Phoenix Mars Lander. Phoenix has been operating on the Red Planet for more than five months.

Participants will be:
-- Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
-- Peter Smith, Phoenix principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson
-- Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio.

[dvandorn]

It's a sad/happy day. It helps a little that we all knew it was coming, and we all knew it was going to happen right around this time.

Many, many amazing memories for me from Phoenix.

Satisfaction that this type of lander finally made it, nearly a decade after MPL really tearing my heart out.

Intense emotions during EDL. I *really* wanted this one to get through.

Fascination at what small-scale polygonal crust looks like from the surface, and in general fascination over what yet another distinct part of Mars looks like.

Pure delight at the OM and AFM images.

Extreme frustration over the inability of TEGA to get an ice sample. When the mission started, we had Jim Garvin on TV stating in awed, hushed tones, "not only do we think we're we going to find water ice, we're going to reach out and taste it! Can you imagine what we can learn from that???" And yet -- not a single taste of the water. Extreme frustration...

All in all, far more wonder than frustration... but t'would have been even more wonderful had we actually managed to taste the ice.

-the other Doug