NASA hopeful, but not confident, about ailing Mars rover

NASA's aging Spirit Mars rover, stuck in loose soil and forced to endure the harsh Martian winter with reduced solar power, has not phoned home since March 22. Officials warned Friday that "a miracle" may be needed to restore the rover to limited operation.

No longer mobile, Spirit was unable to orient itself to maximize solar-power levels before the onset of its fourth winter on Mars. Engineers expected the rover to put itself into electronic hibernation, suspending communications and conserving power to warm and recharge its batteries and to run an internal clock.

A file photo from a navigation camera on the Spirit Mars rover, showing its front wheels mired in the Martian soil

(Credit: NASA)

The rover is programmed to take itself out of hibernation and call home whenever the batteries are sufficiently charged. But if the batteries lose too much charge, and if the internal clock stops ticking, the rover's computer could re-awaken but not know what time it is.

In that case, known as a "mission-clock fault," the Rover's computer would start a new clock, waking up every four hours during daylight to listen for signals from Earth. In a best-case scenario, Spirit could have started listening as early as July 23.

Starting July 26, engineers began sending commands to Spirit, ordering it to phone home if possible. But analysis of available sunlight and the cold environment indicates the rover may not be able to respond until late September to mid-October. That's assuming it's able to respond at all.

"It will be the miracle from Mars if our beloved rover phones home," Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said in an agency statement. "It's never faced this type of severe condition before--this is unknown territory."

Winter on Mars runs from May through November. During past winters, heaters kept Spirit's internal temperatures above minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This time around, most of the heaters are not powered and temperatures could go as low as minus 67 degrees.

Whether Spirit can survive is an open question.

"This has been a long winter for Spirit, and a long wait for us," Steve Squyres, the principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rovers at Cornell University, said in the NASA statement. "Even if we never heard from Spirit again, I think her scientific legacy would be secure. But we're hopeful we will hear from her, and we're eager to get back to doing science with two rovers again."

Spirit and a twin rover, Opportunity, landed on opposite sides of Mars in January 2004. Designed to operate for just three months, both rovers have now been in operation for six and half Earth years, studying the role of water in the Martian environment.

Opportunity remains in relatively good health, still mobile and able to collect scientific data.

[solitare_pax]

Lets send a repair man to mare to get Spirit running again :)

It was made by Maytag, right?

[mediocrates--2008]

Can we send up a free bumper for the antenna?

[assman]

Wake up rover, wake up and smell the roses.

[eBob1]

I think that it should be noted that Martian winter is from May through November this year. The occurrence of Martian winter will vary from year to year on Earth. Some Earth years there will not be a Martian winter at all (probably next year).

[spyglasshill]

designed to operate for 3 months .. operational for 6 to 6 and 1/2 years ... BRAVO !!!

ET phone Homeee....lol

[george_liquor]

Amazing. That sucker outlived my last car.

[divergence2]

NASA has been interested in Mars exclusively in terms of landers. I wish they would pursue Venus someday. It's an extreme environment but it's been decades since the Russians landed anything there. Venus is interesting to me because of its dense atmosphere and near earth-like size.

[ranvijay43]

For years, the American space agency has been operating the Mars Scout program, which is an array of missions destined to reach the Red Planet, and study it, at low costs. Each Scout project was to cost less than $485 million, which is a very low price tag for a spacecraft destined to reach another planet. But experts at NASA decided to call quits on the initiatives, after only two missions were planned. The Phoenix Mars Lander, launched in 2007, was one of them; the other is the MAVEN orbiter, which is scheduled to enter its designated Martian orbit in 2013.

[andrew19ao]

Its done a great job much MUCH longer than planned. Phone home little rover. Please

[capernicous2]

Too bad that thanks to Obama new program, the US will never be able to get back to MARS to fixit

[llungster]

I hate to break the news but the program that got canceled was well underfunded to reach the moon much less Mars. And by the time do get there, why would you spend all that money and effort to fix what would then be an old relic? That said, I do wish we had a real, solid, long term plan for manned space exploration that will go farther than low earth orbit.