Mars Rover Spirit May Never Wake From Deep Sleep

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 31, 2010 @05:29AM from the borrow-my-alarm-clock,-that'll-do-it dept.

astroengine writes "After repeated calls from NASA to wake up Mars Exploration Rover Spirit from its low-energy hibernation mode, mission control is beginning to realize the ill-fated robot may never wake up again. After getting stuck in a sand trap in Gusev Crater and then switching into hibernation in March, rover operators were hopeful that the beached Spirit might yet be saved. Alas, this is looking more and more unlikely. In a statement, NASA said: 'Based on models of Mars' weather and its effect on available power, mission managers believe that if Spirit responds, it most likely will be in the next few months. However, there is a very distinct possibility Spirit may never respond.'" Related xkcd strip, in case the headline wasn't anthropomorphic enough for you.

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Re:On the bright side... by davester666 · 2010-07-31 06:08 · Score: -1, Troll

Good job?
More like poor planning. Everybody knows when you head for the sand dunes, you need at least shovels and a winch when you inevitably get stuck in it. What were they thinking!

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Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Re:On the bright side... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-07-31 10:45 · Score: -1, Troll

http://goatkcd.com/695/
Re:On the bright side... by Anonymous Coward · 2010-07-31 16:36 · Score: -1, Troll

Whoever applied the first mod point (Troll) probably did it like this: He read the first 2 sentences, allows his emotion to overrule his logic, forms his opinion, skips the rest of the post, and applies the mod.