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Mars Rover Spirit May Never Wake From Deep Sleep
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.
Those were the longest 90 days ever. Good job to everyone all around, although I imagine it will be a bit weird for the rover team to all of a sudden not have a rover to take care of...
He can go reboot it, right? I know it is the weekend, but it's obviously part of his job duties.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/mars-rover-beginning-to-hate-mars,2072/
Orwell was an optimist.
I'm gonna sit back and watch a bunch of male geeks get all teary eyed about some robot.
"Just my allergies, I hate summer".
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Sad that people are taking so little notice. The two rovers may be the greatest achievement of mankind to date. Lasting this long is beyond heroic. They may be robots but they have both shown a stubborn determination that is impressive for man or machine. He'll be missed and I think we all wish his brother well. They'll be decades going over the data generated but the two lonely robots, one now apparently sleeping for all time.
> "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.
I would wish to have such ill-fate as exceeding my predicted lifetime by a factor of 10x and accomplishing 20x more than believed possible within that lifetime.
sPh
I don't think "ill-fated" is a term you would use for something that performed far beyond expectations.
It ~did~ make me cry...
For that reason, one of the best XKCD strips ever. Not every comic is gold, but this one is pure gold on a number of levels.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
Can't think of a better way to go...
R.I.P.
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
I was involved with this project when the rovers where still being built. When you build or are otherwise involved in something you really believe in like this you can't help anthropomorphizing them.
To most its just a machine, a worthless hunk of metal, but to those who put there hearts and souls into this program those rovers are almost as precious as children. Its part of human nature to imbue objects with an identity, a soul, just look at how people treat cars, plans, boats, etc..
Sprite and Opportunity carried more than just a bunch of electronics to Mars, they carried the dreams and hopes of all those who choose join it in its journey.
To those, like myself, who consider the rovers to be more than the sum of their parts it will be a very sad day when Sprite is officially listed as dead. And to those who would laugh at us because they can't care for anything beyond themselves or limit their love to only humans, I pity you.
Spirit isn't stuck in the sand. It's hung up on a rock. The wheels cannot get any traction.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Sounds like a plot for a Disney|PIXAR movie. WALL-E meets Sleeping Beauty?
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
The game.
Those Martians never stood a chance.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
Someone re-captioned it, and Randall Munroe is hosting it.
I think they both work.
If only all NASA missions were this successful
If they were all successful, it would mean we weren't pushing the envelope, weren't making mistakes and weren't learning from them.
I was software. But I did ask someone about that when I was at JPL a few months before they arrived on another job.
In short; to use treads you already have to have wheels. Wheels are more reliable, less total moving parts and are lighter. If a rock or enough sand were to get between the drive wheel and tread it disables the tread. On Earth a tank has the horse power and a crew to deal with it. Ever notice how even modern tanks always carry extra tread links with them?
Tread probably would have prevented Spirit from getting stuck in the sand trap it's in now, but they would have also ended the mission at a much earlier date. Don't forget that Spirit had been dragging one of its wheels even before it became stuck in the sand.
I hope one day someone can go rescue all these poor little waifs
Wasn't it in Total Recall where one of the shots zoomed past one of the rovers on Mars on its way to zoom in on one of the complexes there... complete with a plaque or something beside it?
I'd think if we ever were going to go to mars and bring back samples etc, that thing deserves some space in the trunk. I'd love to see it in a museum here, it's so much more than just history.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
We never particularly expected to hear from Spirit before this coming October +/- 1 month, making the suggestion that we're "beginning to realize she might never wake up again" more than a little misleading. According to our best models, the energy levels on Mars are just barely reaching the point where Spirit might wake up for even a few minutes a day, and hearing anything from her at this point would be a great stroke of luck. Have patience. She's there.
I understand that NASA is trying to manage expectations, but their way of doing it is bad management that needlessly demoralizes the team. My own personal expectation is that we damn well will hear from Spirit, and after a certain recovery period she'll be moving on Mars again.
``Life results from the non-random survival of randomly varying replicators.'' -- Richard Dawkins