Tales from the Geek, Part Four

RIP Phoenix.

The Mars Phoenix lander, which came down on the northern plains of that planet on May 25, has not been heard from since November 2 and is presumed dead, frozen to death in the Martian winter.

The US space agency says it will continue to try to contact the craft but does not expect to hear from it.

"We are actually ceasing operations, declaring an end to operations at this point," Phoenix mission project manager Barry Goldstein said at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Don't feel let down, though: The lander's mission was supposed to be for three months and it lasted more than five.

During its ground operations, the robot dug, scooped, baked, sniffed and tasted the Martian soil to test whether it has ever been capable of supporting life.

And, memorialized in the photo above, it did something never done before: touched Martian water. More exactly, ice. Actual honest to gosh water ice, right below the topsoil. What's more, it found minerals which form only in the presence of liquid water, water which could have supported life.

You want more? We got more.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been in orbit around Mars since 2006. One of the things it has recently discovered is that hydrated silica, better known as opal, is spread across large regions of the planet.

The find suggests liquid water remained on Mars' surface a billion years later than scientists had previously thought. ...

The discovery adds to the growing body of evidence that water played a crucial role in shaping the Martian landscape and - possibly - in sustaining life.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, which will look for signs of life there, is set to be launched in 2009. The European Space Agency also has plans for a Mars rover, but that mission, called ExoMars, is still several years out, the target date being 2016.