Nasa regains contact with Mars lander

Nasa’s Phoenix Mars spacecraft regained contact with Earth today, more than a day after falling silent, but its days operating on the red planet are still numbered, mission chiefs say.

Waning sunlight and a dust storm this week drained the lander’s power, forcing it to go into safe mode. It failed to respond to two wake-up calls from Earth on Wednesday and yesterday, but sent a signal early today when the orbiting Odyssey spacecraft passed overhead.