# Tell me about space probes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-space-probes/223998>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 11, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-space-probes/223998 "2004-01-11T16:17:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Freejack00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Freejack00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejack00)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-space-probes/223998/1 "2004-01-11T16:17:01Z")

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I’ve always had the curiosity and have never heard much about what happens to a space probe that leads to it’s demise.Say it lands on Mars…after a few weeks or months the signal disappears.Do the bateries run out? Doesn’t it run on solar energy? Why do systems shut down so soon while I have read that other space probes such as Viking last for years? The Pathfinder only ran for a couple of months.😕  
Thanks in advance