spacetoday.net: NASA ends efforts to contact Spirit rover

Posted: Wed, May 25, 2011, 7:14 AM ET (1114 GMT)
Mars Exploration Rover (NASA/JPL)

NASA will end efforts this month to restore communications with the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, effectively ending a mission that started over seven years ago. Spirit has been out of communication since March 2010, when it went into hibernation to conserve power during the Martian winter. Project officials speculate that the rover, stuck in a patch of sand for two years, suffered damage during the cold winter since it could not position itself to generate enough power from its solar cells to run heaters. As summer returned to Spirit's location, engineers thought the rover might generate enough power to revive itself, but efforts over the last 10 months to reestablish communications have failed. NASA plans to redirect its resources to supporting Spirit's twin, Opportunity, which is continuing to operate normally, as well as prepare for the launch later this year of the much larger Mars Science Laboratory rover.