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Post by Wes on Feb 5, 2010 17:01:10 GMT 10
NASA says Spirit will no longer be a rover.
PASADENA, Calif. (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says its Mars rover Spirit is stuck where it is for good but can still help in martian studies.
NASA engineers had worked unsuccessfully since April to free Spirit from loose martian sand in which it had became stuck.
"After six years of unprecedented exploration of the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit no longer will be a fully mobile robot," the space agency said in a Tuesday statement, designating the once-roving scientific explorer a stationary science platform.
"Spirit is not dead; it has just entered another phase of its long life," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. "We told the world last year that attempts to set the beloved robot free may not be successful. It looks like Spirit's current location on Mars will be its final resting place."
Engineers said the robot's primary task during the next few weeks will be to position itself to combat the severe Martian winter.
NASA said the rover's solar energy is declining and is expected to become insufficient to maintain communications by mid-February. The rover team said it hopes to improve Spirit's tilt, boosting the amount of sunlight striking its solar panels to enable some communication with Earth during the winter.
Launched in 2003, the Mars rover is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Copyright 2010 by United Press International
Looks like the batteries have finally gone flat, well thanks Spirit for all those photos.
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Post by Wes Gear on Feb 5, 2010 22:38:36 GMT 10
kinda sad isn't it? those two little machines have worked their metallic asses off and one is still mobile. i don't think they ever thought in the year 2010 they would still be exploring mars. they have defied death more than a couple of times. definitely the most successful mars mission ever.
hopefully one day they'll bring those little guys home and put them on display for the world to see. probably be the year 10,000 at the speed we are going right now but still............
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Post by brillbilly on Feb 5, 2010 23:24:46 GMT 10
stupid putting wheels on them,they should have used tracks like on tanks,you dont see tanks in the desert with wheels,why! because they get stuck,lol,simples
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Post by Wes Gear on Feb 5, 2010 23:33:42 GMT 10
brill with wheels you can go more places than tracked vehicles. if they had tracks they would have not been able to go to many of the places on mars where they had to climb.
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Post by brillbilly on Feb 5, 2010 23:42:29 GMT 10
well they should have found a better place to land,if they are stuck its because they are in the wrong terrain lol and tank tracks leave nicer paterns.i have seen robot wars lol
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Post by Wes Gear on Feb 5, 2010 23:45:04 GMT 10
hahahahahah you have bested me once again you bastard!
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Post by brillbilly on Feb 6, 2010 0:02:12 GMT 10
well if im honest i did work for plant hire comp and did operate excavates/jcb/kabota/komatsu/bobcats and all other types of track crawing things and i never got stuck then i drive my honda with 4 wheels and i get stuck so i used my own logic ;D
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