14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists at the NASA lab managing the rovers Spirit and Opportunity announce that the former has not yet shown any signs of activity. The exploration robot is stuck in a patch of loose sand on Mars.
The new status report covers sols (Martian days) 2362 to 2368 of the mission the battered machine has been conducting on the Red Planet.
It is now winter on Mars at Spirit's location, and the machine is placed in a protective hibernation mode, which is meant to safeguard its low energy supplies.
When spring will return to its location, its solar panels will again begin recharging its batteries. When onboard computers detect large enough amounts of power, the rover will initiate communication attempts.
Most likely, it will try to contact the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) or the Mars Odyssey first, given that it only needs to use its low-gain antenna to do that.
With only minute power levels, Spirit would endanger itself by using its high-gain antenna, which is capable of contacting Earth directly.
As such, MRO, Odyssey, or the European Mars Express could be used as relay, until mission controllers can upload new programs to allow Spirit to wake up.
The mission is being managed by scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The facility is located at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in Pasadena.
At this time, Spirit is still jammed in the patch of loose sand called Troy. The area is located on the west side of Home Plate, the landscape feature the rover was aiming for when disaster struck.
It was supposed to get to the Plate in order to conduct geological studies, but also to benefit from the maximum amount of sunlight during the harsh Martian winter, SpaceRef reports.
The robot last time communicated with Earth on Sol 2210, or March 22, 2010. “It is likely that Spirit has experienced a low-power fault and has turned off all sub-systems, including communication and gone into a deep sleep, trying to recharge her batteries,” JPL experts write in a press release.
“The rover internal electronics will experience colder temperatures than previous winters, because heaters will be shut off,” they say.
Experts are “listening for Spirit with the Deep Space Network and Mars Odyssey orbiter for autonomous recovery communication from the low-power fault case […].” the team concludes.