[X] My Assistant

[mcaplinger]

From the spacEurope Peter Smith Q&A:
Q: using the MARDI camera has been cancelled. Do you think that the MARDI microphone will be used later on in the mission to record some sounds?

A: The MARDI instrument was found to interfere with the guidance system under rare circumstances forcing the difficult decision to turn it off during the descent. The microphone does work and may be used later in the mission to hear the sounds of the RA scraping on the Martian ice.

[To clarify this answer: the card in the Lockheed-Martin spacecraft computer that handles MARDI data also handles guidance system data, and the problem was with this card, not with MARDI itself.]

From the spacEurope Barry Goldstein Q&A:

Q: Will MARDI and the Mic be used post-landing at all?

A: The MARDI will not be used.

Goldstein's answer certainly sounds definitive and final.

So, best of luck to Phoenix, a mission I used to have something to do with.

Disclaimer: this is all information from public sources. Opinions, if any, are my own.