Little rover Spirit may not Beep again

William Atkins
Saturday, 31 July 2010 07:07

Science - Space

NASA has announced that its Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit has not responded to its communications since March 22, 2010. They still hold hope that Spirit will awaken from hibernation but admit, "It will be the miracle ... if our beloved rover phones home."

 

The NASA media release, “NASA’s Hiberating Mars Rover May Not Call Home” made the announcement  on Thursday, July 29, 2010, concerning the problems that Spirit is having on the planet Mars.

The NASA article states, “NASA mission controllers have not heard from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit since March 22, and the rover is facing its toughest challenge yet -- trying to survive the harsh Martian winter.”

The Spirit rover has been in hibernation mode ever since it was unable to move to a “favorable slope” for the winter.

NASA controllers tried to position the rover so that it had the best opportunity (on a slope directed toward the Sun) to grab as much sunlight as possible during the harsh Martian winter.

Sunlight during the cold months on Mars strike the solar collectors on Spirit's surface at low angles, which means it does not get a full shot of sunlight as compared to the summer months, plus the number of hours that the Sun is above the horizon during the winter months is less than in the summer months.

In addition, Mars is about 75 million kilometers (46 million miles) further away from the Sun that we are on Earth—so it receives less sunlight than what is received on Earth.

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