Mars Missions: Spirit goes AWOL

[Brian Turner]

After the almost certain loss of the British Beagle probe, the so-far successful Spirit mission is now in jeopardy.

Apparently, the rover has failed to report back in 24 hours, and it's UHF antenna is just sending out noise, rather than data.

The curse of the red planet again?

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3421981.stm

excerpt:

Nasa scientists in the United States are working to restore contact with their robotic probe on Mars, which is no longer responding.


The Mars rover Spirit has stopped sending data back in what the agency calls a "serious" breakdown.

Experts say it may have been caused by a problem with the computer software controlling transmissions with earth.

Nasa is hoping to reach Spirit via satellites orbiting Mars over the next few hours. "This is an extremely serious anomaly," said Pete Theisinger, the Spirit project manager.

Of course, the search for the British probe continues:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/3422113.stm

excerpt:

Scientists at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire will try again to contact the lost Beagle 2 probe on Mars this weekend.


The craft landed on Christmas Day, but nothing has been heard from it since.

Beagle 2, which was transported to the red planet by the Mars Express spacecraft, was designed to search for signs of past or present life.

Controllers stopped trying to raise it on 12 January, hoping that a period of radio silence would force it into an emergency communication mode.

The original radio silence period ended on Wednesday.