Sand pit dooms one of Mars rovers

January 27, 2010|Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - The Mars rover Spirit has logged nearly 5 miles during six years of rolling around the Red Planet. It has driven forward, backward, and uphill over plains, plateaus, and even a mountain as tall as the Statue of Liberty.

No more.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration declared an end to Spirit’s roving career yesterday after repeated attempts to free it from the sand pit where it’s been stuck for nine months. With Martian winter approaching, the focus instead will turn to improving Spirit’s tilt so its solar panels can receive maximum sunlight.

“Spirit has encountered a golfer’s worst nightmare: the sand trap that no matter how many strokes you take you can’t get out of it,’’ said Doug McCuistion, who heads the Mars exploration program at NASA headquarters.

NASA said Spirit can still do research while stuck in place, provided it survives the winter.

Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, parachuted to opposite ends of the Martian equator in 2004.

Designed to last three months, both have dazzled scientists by working past their warranty, and they’re closing in on the record for the longest-running Mars surface mission. That achievement is held by the Viking 1 lander, which lasted on the Red Planet for six years and 116 days.