The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said Wednesday it has resolved a malfunction that for several hours caused a break in communications with the Phoenix Mars Lander. NASA said UHF (ultra-high frequency) radio transmissions had been disrupted between Phoenix and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which relays data and instructions between Phoenix and Earth-based controllers. A statement Wednesday from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California said the problem was resolved late Tuesday. “NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully received information from Phoenix Tuesday evening and relayed the information to Earth,” the statement said. “The relayed transmission included images and other data collected by Phoenix during the mission's second day after landing on Mars,” space officials said. The malfunction delayed the commands to deploy Phoenix's robotic arm, which will collect samples of soil and hopefully ice as well as traces of organic compounds.
