Posted: Fri, Sep 19, 2008, 7:18 AM ET (1118 GMT)
NASA has funded a second and likely final extension to its Phoenix Mars Lander mission, the agency announced this week. The $6-million extension will keep the mission active until December. By that time Martian winter will have set it to the point where the spacecraft will run out of power; a solar conjunction will also interrupt communications between the spacecraft and the Earth in mid-November. Phoenix landed on Mars on May 25 for what was originally planned to be a 90-day mission, and since received a one-month extension.

Related Links:

•  Arizona Daily Star article
•  AP article