PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The Phoenix spacecraft seeking microbial life near the Martian North Pole shows no signs of life itself and may be frozen, the U.S. space agency said Thursday.
The robotic lander, which completed its five-month mission in August 2008, gave off no signals when the Mars Odyssey spacecraft orbiting the planet passed over Phoenix's location 30 times since Monday, NASA said.
Phoenix was not designed to survive the frigid Martian winter, but NASA and University of Arizona scientists said they hoped to re-establish contact if the lander can recharge its batteries during the Martian spring, which has begun.
The scientists said they would try to make contact with Phoenix again next month and in March.
Meanwhile, the agency's embattled Mars rover Spirit -- stuck wheel-deep in a Martian sand trap since last May -- managed to move a half-inch, NASA said Thursday.
It was the first upward motion for the rover since escape attempts began in November, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.
Spirit is in Mars' Southern Hemisphere, where it's fall. Its top-mounted solar arrays, vital for generating power, are not in a favorable position to keep the rover alive through a Mars winter, space and astronomy news Web site Space.com reported.
The rover's robotic arm -- which is supposed to conduct geological analysis of Martian rocks and planetary surface features -- is not able to generate enough force to move the golf cart-size rover free of its trap, said Jet Propulsion Laboratory mission managers in Pasadena, Calif.
