NASA missions on Mars have been used to conduct a wide variety
of scientific experiments. Much of the scientific scrutiny from
NASA and other space agencies centers on Mars. NASA launched
Mars Phoenix lander in August of 2007 and sent it speeding
towards Mars. In May of 2008, the Phoenix touched down and began
its mission on the red planet. One of the tasks that Phoenix was
sent to Mars to accomplish was to find out if water ice was
present in the Martian soil. Phoenix did find evidence that ice
was in the Martian soil and after its three-month mission ended,
NASA decided to keep Phoenix working. In November of 2008, NASA
officially closed the mission Phoenix was conducting when it
lost communications with the lander after it lost power and
could no longer sustain itself. NASA had expected Phoenix to
lose power during the harsh Martian winter, though it continued
to try to get the rover to respond to commands sent from
satellites orbiting Mars to no avail. This week NASA reported
that controllers have stopped