A Phoenix sputters out

While many gadgets tend to die after they have outlived their usefulness, some remain useful beyond their expected lifespan. One of those, sadly, has passed away. The Martian lander Phoenix, which set down on in northern Mars may have gone under the weather. The mission lasted five months longer than expected but a dust storm seems to have done it in and it's last message was sent on Nov. 2. Unfortunately, not all of NASA's cool tech toys work out like the Martian probes. The shuttle's rendezvous to the problem-plagued Hubble Space Telescope has been delayed ... again. The testing of a new computer is taking longer than expected. Let's hope it won't be running Windows.