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Spirit Rover Disabled on Mars

Posted by michael on from the tow-truck-rates-astronomical dept.

Nick Driver writes " Space.com is reporting that the Spirit Rover hasn't moved since October 1st and is suffering from two wheels that can no longer steer and thus are being held in a fixed direction by their locked steering motors. Hopefully one of the workarounds being considered will allow the rover to be moved again and still retain sufficient steering control over the remaining wheels to continue the mission."

2 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. Mission over? by Deanasc · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wasn't this robots life span only supposed to be 90 days? Hasn't it been way more than 90 days since the mission started? I say 'good work!' Let the little machine retire with some dignity. It's earned it.

    --
    I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
  2. Spirit is moving - Look at the images! by BogoMips · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just by looking at the pictures taken by Spirit's Front Hazard Camera at 14:23:00 UTC and 14:32:06 UTC today (look here to decode the image time from its name) you can see the rover has moved!!

    As of this writing I could'nt find any statement from NASA or from the Rovers' official site indicating whether or not this particular problem is resolved. Nevertheless I hope all is well with Spirit and this was nothing but a simple glitch.