From the ArcaMax Publishing, Science & Technology Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/technology/s-372365-953952
PASADENA, Calif. (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says the next sample
of Martian soil to be analyzed by the Phoenix Mars Lander might be its
last.
A team of National Aeronautics and Space Administration engineers and
scientists who assessed the spacecraft's Thermal and Evolved-Gas
Analyzer, or TEGA, after a short circuit was discovered last month has
concluded another short circuit could occur when the oven is again
used.
"Since there is no way to assess the probability of another short
circuit occurring, we are taking the most conservative approach and
treating the next sample to TEGA as possibly our last," said Peter
Smith, Phoenix's principal investigator.
Although mission teams will "stand down" until Saturday evening to
mark the Fourth of July holiday, skeleton crews -- including ones at
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which manages the
Phoenix mission -- will monitor the spacecraft and its instruments,
NASA said.
"The stand down is a chance for our team to rest, but Phoenix won't
get a holiday," Smith said, noting the spacecraft will be operating
from preprogrammed science commands, taking atmospheric readings,
panoramas and other images.