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When the UA-led Phoenix Mars lander succumbed to the Red Planet's harsh arctic winter earlier this month, dedicated amateur space explorers who followed the mission for months felt as though they'd lost a loved one.

To them, Phoenix had become more than a complex mix of metal, solar panels and circuits — it was flesh and blood.

Using social networking Web sites such as Twitter and Facebook, more than 40,000 people became "friends" with Phoenix, following the lander's every move as it searched for ice beneath the Martian arctic.

And in Phoenix's last days, many left the lander encouraging thoughts and condolences, with some even going so far as to create epitaphs for the spacecraft.

Posting in response to the news that the mission had ended, one person wrote, "Why must the great die young?"

The intense connection felt by many who followed Phoenix — and the development of the lander's humanlike personality — was something mission officials say they never anticipated.

What began as a way for people to stay engaged with the mission during its landing over Memorial Day weekend soon morphed into a phenomenon in which those working on educating the public about the mission were posing as the lander itself, responding with a distinct voice and personality.

"It certainly evolved," Veronica McGregor, a spokeswomen for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who crafted the "voice" of Phoenix, said of the lander's online personality. "We really thought that this would be a nice way for people to keep up with the mission, but we didn't expect this kind of response."

Phoenix traveled 420 million miles and scientifically proved that there is water on Mars. The University of Arizona, which led the mission's day-to-day science operations, became the first public university to lead a NASA mission to Mars.

Given Phoenix's continued online popularity — more than 1,000 people signed up for the lander's Twitter feed after the mission ended — NASA officials plan to use the spacecraft's online avatar as a blueprint for how future missions can engage the public about space exploration.

Giving Phoenix a personality wasn't something McGregor initially planned.

Rather, she created the Twitter feed so that people had a way to get near-constant updates on the mission's status during its descent to the surface of Mars.

Because a lot of complex tasks were occurring in the hours before Phoenix landed over a holiday weekend, Twitter seemed like the perfect place to keep a few dedicated fans in the loop, McGregor said.

The social-networking site allows users to post short updates about what they're doing, allowing other users to see exactly what friends and relatives are up to.

Almost immediately after posting, McGregor's audience began growing. Hundreds of people began signing up to get updates on Phoenix and ask questions about the mission.

More than 39,000 people are subscribed to the feed today.

Many questions showed a deep understanding about planetary exploration, while others were playful and funny.

McGregor found herself responding in the first person, talking as Phoenix, and playing off the tone of the questions.

"A lot of the perkiness really developed as the result of the types of questions I was getting back," she said. "And once I started writing in first person, immediately people started writing back and responding."

Not wanting to confuse anyone who might actually believe Phoenix was human, McGregor was careful to make it clear that she was writing the updates and answering questions.

Keri Bean, a junior at Texas A&M, helped Phoenix make friends.

As a student, Bean spent several weeks in Tucson helping download images from Phoenix's main camera. In her spare time, she set up Phoenix's Facebook profile.

Facebook allows users to upload photos, post updates and establish a profile. The Web site also allows users to befriend one another, creating an online community.

Within a day of the lander's profile going up, 1,000 people requested friend status. As of Friday, Phoenix had 3,675 friends, which makes the lander quite popular, comparatively speaking — actor Alec Baldwin has roughly 1,350 friends on Facebook, while UA quarterback Willie Tuitama close to 4,600.

"With Facebook, it's easier to keep up with the mission and reach out to an audience," Bean said. "Most people want to know what really is going on, but they don't have an easy way to talk to the team."

Between Facebook and Twitter, fans were able to log on and get as much information about the mission as they wanted.

With the online popularity of Phoenix growing, McGregor began writing as Phoenix for several technology sites, such as Gizmodo, which gave the character a whole new audience.

But McGregor soon realized that many people might not know that Phoenix was destined to stop working and become encased in dry ice.

Not wanting to catch people by surprise, she began preparing them for the inevitable end.

"They did get very emotionally attached, much more so than I expected," McGregor said. "So I spent some time trying to brace them for the loss."

Writing on Gizmodo, McGregor tried to rationalize Phoenix's demise.

"One of the most common questions I'm asked is whether I knew going in that this mission would cost me my life. The answer to that is yes, of course, and there's not a single robotic explorer in our solar system that doesn't know it faces the same fate. Unlike all of you, most of us can't go home again," she wrote.

Retracing the history of the mission, which used the vehicle and experiments from previous NASA missions that either failed or were canceled, McGregor tried to put an optimistic spin on the demise.

"So in that sense I arose from the ashes back in 2003 when I began my current trek to Mars. When people ask if I knew going in that I'd eventually become a frozen fixture on the Red Planet, the answer is yes, and it's a heck of a better place to be than locked in storage," she wrote.

Reader response was just as sincere.

"Man, I love that thing. It has helped us so much and I hope one day they can bring it back so we can pay homage," one person commented.

"Good job buddy! You've been a real model diplomat for Martian explorers," another wrote.

While the mission has come to a close, McGregor plans to continue to update the mission's Twitter feed with new discoveries made after scientists have had an opportunity to analyze the data.

And while it might be too soon for friends of Phoenix who are still mourning the lander, McGregor has a new friend she'd like them to meet.

"I've started a page for the next rover headed to Mars, and about 2,900 people have signed up for it," she said.