Dust storm ends Mars mission for Phoenix Lander

Arizona: A dust storm and winter in Mars has drained the Phoenix Lander's batteries, forcing an end to its mission in the Red Planet, Nasa announced on Monday.

Nasa said the solar-powered spacecraft has been silent since November 2 despite efforts to re-establish contact using Nasa satellites in orbit around Mars.

It had landed on Mars on May 25 and conducted five months of research.

"We are actually ceasing operations, declaring an end to mission operations at this point," project manager Barry Goldstein said.

"We'll constantly turn on the radio and try to hail Phoenix to see if it is alive, but at this point nobody on the team has any expectations of that happening," Goldstein said.