The NASA team in charge of the Mars Spirit Rover has reported some unexpected activities over the weekend, including the rover offering some incomplete reports, as well as a request to determine its orientation after an incomplete drive.

 

Scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. explained that despite receiving the commands for the 1,800th Martian day mission, the Spirit rover had not moved.

 

On the one hand, the rover might have sensed that it was not ready to drive, they said. But, on the other hand, the behavior just continued to be out of the ordinary, as the rover also failed to record the day’s main activities into the non-volatile memory.

 

Scientists have not yet found an explanation for Spirit’s behavior over the past few days, but while they’re still working on that, the first assumption that comes to mind is that perhaps the rover is sending end-of-the-road signals.

 

But that’s just the pessimistic alternative. Mars Exploration Rovers' Project Manager John Callas said Spirit is under normal sequence control, reporting good health and responsive to commands from the ground. The investigation continues.

 

On January 3rd, Spirit, together with Opportunity, entered its fifth year on Mars. The two rovers were launched in 2004 for an initial three-month mission that has since prolonged.

 

NASA is planning on continuing the Mars mission by sending Spirit 183 meters (200 yards) further south of the site where it spent all of 2008, and by sending Opportunity to its next target, the Endeavour Crater, about 12 kilometers (7 miles) from Victoria Crater, where the rover spent the last two years.

 

NASA admitted that the rovers could use some cleaning sessions after all this time, and that the mission could end at any time, however, the rovers proved so far fully operational, and perhaps Spirit’s glitch is one to be solved.