The Phoenix lander has perished on the surface of Mars. The craft which confirmed the presence of water on the red planet – and came closest to discovering if life has ever existed there – has been declared dead by Nasa.

"We're actually ceasing operations, declaring and end to mission operations at this point," said Barry Goldstein, the project manager.

Phoenix succumbed to the approaching Martian winter as shorter days and dust storms cut off power from the craft's solar panel. Soon temperatures will plunge to almost 200 degrees below zero, encasing the lander in carbon dioxide ice. The craft had long been expected to succumb, and mission managers are celebrating a successful mission which sent back more than 25,000 images of the planet.

"It's really an Irish wake rather than a funeral we're looking forward to," said Doug McCuiston, Nasa's head of Mars exploration. "Phoenix provided an important step to spur the hope that we can show Mars was once habitable and possibly supported life."

Mission control has not heard from Phoenix in more than a week, after its batteries died. Although controllers will keep listening for a signal, they have given up hope of hearing one. "At this time, we're pretty convinced that the vehicle is no longer available for us to use," Mr Goldstein said. The craft's equipment is not expected to survive the winter freeze.

Launched in August last year, Phoenix touched down on Mars in May, closer to the planet's north pole than any previous lander. It quickly made a key discovery by finding ice below the surface at the landing site, verifying measurements made by from space by the orbiter Mars Odyssey in 2002.

The craft's instruments also observed falling snow, discovered carbonates and clays that indicate that liquid water may once have been present and found small concentrations of salts that could be nutrients for life. It also revealed alkaline soil unlike any previously known on the planet.

The $475 million craft overcame an array of early technical problems to transmit for five months, two months longer than originally planned. The pictures sent back by its cameras ranged from sweeping vistas of the Martian landscape to images created by first atomic force microscope ever used outside Earth.

"I'm just thrilled to death with what we've been able to do here," said Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, the project's principal investigator. Dr Smith said that the data sent back by the craft were still being analysed and could yet find evidence of past or current life.

"I'm still holding out hope," he said. "It's really the question of what is the truth on Mars."

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