Mars rover unlikely to be freed

Spirit Mars Rover (Artists impression. Credit: NASA)

On 3-4 December, a series of diagnostic tests, which were commissioned after the right-rear wheel stalled on attempts to free the rover, suggest that the wheel is close to failure, due either to the motor, the gearbox, or a rock in the wheel. Spirit already lost power to the right-front wheel in 2006.The stalls occurred when NASA tried a two-step maneuver to extract Spirit from its location, which resulted in a 1.4-meter wheel spin and moving the rover forward by 0.5 millimeter. Spirit‘s current position is a bad location for the rover to be in as the Martian winter approaches. Dust is gradually accumulating on the solar panels, limiting the charge to the battery, and the angle of the Sun in the southern hemisphere is such that the batteries could be completely exhausted by the time the Martian spring appears. Spirit has survived a lot longer than it was originally designed for, and the mission was extended years beyond the initial proposal. However, the loss of a number of Mars probes in the last four years has helped justify keeping the rover programs operational. A tougher NASA budget next year may change that equation if the weather does not kill Spirit off.