You may have forgotten about the little RC cars roaming around the surface of the red planet, and now it appears that one of them has apparently forgotten about Earth. It seems that while trying to get itself unstuck from a bit of sand, Spirit the first of two rovers sent to Mars 7 years ago has now shut down. All hope is not lost yet however.
On January 3, 2004 Spirit landed on Mars followed by it's twin Opportunity three weeks later. The rovers were originally designed to roam the red planet for about three months. They have now been online for almost seven years now and up until Spirit's recent problems they have been going strong. Spirit got itself stuck while driving backwards in an attempt to remove itself from a small sandpit. When it first happened scientists decided to have it commit to some science experiments in its immediate area. But then it just shut down. Or at least that is what scientists are assuming since they have not heard anything from it. There is a pair of satellites in orbit around Mars and every time one of them passes over Spirits area they receive radio signals that they then beam back to Earth. However they have not heard anything from Spirit since April of 2009. They think it may have gone into a sort of hibernation mode. This is a normal procedure though as it was designed to do so in an effort to recharge itself if power consumption became to much of a strain.
NASA scientists are hoping to hear something from Spirit by March of this year at the latest as that is what they think may be the last possible chance to hear anything from it based on its charging opportunities and the amount of power it may have left on board. If nothing happens by then, they fear all may be lost. They will not give up all hope however. "I'm not ready to say goodbye yet," said mission chief scientist Steve Squyres of Cornell University. "That moment will come someday, but now is not the time."
NASA has gotten alot out of the rovers. Remember that these machines were only supposed to be functioning on Mars for about three months and have been going for almost seven years now. Based on the how long they had planned for and how long their best case scenarios went for.. seven years is just amazing. To get that sort of return from a project that was not even planned to go a even a quarter of that amount of time is just astonishing! The project has been great and we have learned a ton about Mars because of the rovers. We have found evidence of water and even life on Mars! And it would not have happened if not for the rovers.
"If that adventure is truly over, it will be a shame, but it will also have been a rover's life well-lived," said astronomer Jim Bell of Arizona State University.
