# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BfhAI0FHteI
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/11735387-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/85e055d608.jpg
- **Posted:** 2018-02-22T22:25:59.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

This animation blinks between two images of our Mars Phoenix Lander. The first – dark smudges on the planet’s surface. The second – the same Martian terrain nearly a decade later, covered in dust. Our Mars orbiter captured this shot as it surveyed the planet from orbit: the first in 2008. The second: late 2017. 
In August 2008, Phoenix completed its three-month mission studying Martian ice, soil and atmosphere. The lander worked for two additional months before reduced sunlight caused energy to become insufficient to keep the lander functioning. The solar-powered robot was not designed to survive through the dark and cold conditions of a Martian arctic winter. 
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona 
#nasa #space #mars #phoenix #lander #science #redplanet #martian #ice #soil #dust #gif #spacecraft #solarsystem

## Stats

- **Views:** 3
- **Likes:** 133,845
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 699

## Tags

spacecraft, gif, solarsystem, phoenix, martian, lander, soil, redplanet, ice, science, nasa, dust, space, mars

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