NASA has announced the end of the attempts to contact the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, whose last communication came from Mars on March 22, 2010. Today the last attempts will be made but now hopes to receive an answer from Spirit are almost non-existent.

Spirit is one of the two Mars Exploration Rovers sent to Mars: it was launched on June 10, 2003 and arrived on January 3, 2004. Spirit and its twin Opportunity are equipped with various instruments that allow them not only to send pictures, at high resolution as well, to Earth but also to examine soil samples and communicate the results of various spectrometric analysis.

The two Rovers were sent to Mars in order to improve our knowledge of the planet by providing new details about its geology and hydrology to obtain a better understanding of its history, which is part of the solar system history.

Spirit and Opportunity are two robots running on solar energy which use a six-wheeled locomotion system built to allow them to move over rough terrain. A heating system allows them to maintain at least a minimum temperature to avoid damage to their equipment.

After arriving on Mars Spirit began its amazing adventure starting from the Gusev crater, the impact site on the planet. During the following Sols – the Martians days of similar duration of the Earth ones – Spirit’s cameras started sending images back to Earth.

The original mission had a 90-Sol duration but at its end Spirit was still working despite some problems happily solved, so NASA sent the Rover towards other sites to be examined.

In 2005 the efficiency of Spirit’s solar panels increased considerably, probably due to sand devils, an atmospheric phenomenon like a small tornado, which could have cleaned up the Rover’s panels. The greater energy availability meant a further longevity extension and therefore of the mission duration.

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In 2006 Spirit’s right front wheel started having problems: the Rover kept moving but more slowly.

In 2007 a ​​series of dust storms started testing put Spirit and Opportunity’s survival capabilities at a big test. The two Rovers managed to overcome conditions far harsher than those they were designed for. After some months of fears the storms faded and the two Rovers could recharge their batteries.

In 2009 Spirit got stuck in a very soft area of land on which its wheels couldn’t exert enough traction to make it move. Many attempts were made ​​to free it but with no success also due to blockage of another wheel. In early 2010 NASA decided to leave the Spirit where it was.

Probably due to the small amount of available energy Spirit has gone into hibernation waiting to receive enough solar energy. Because its position isn’t very well oriented to the Sun there’s a serious risk that it couldn’t keep a sufficient temperature to prevent damage. In that case it might no longer be able to communicate with Earth or has even completely ceased to function.

If it were a movie Spirit would resume communications at the last moment but this is reality and hopes that the Rover might still send some signals is almost non-existent.

The Opportunity Rover continues to operate years after the end of its originally planned mission, demonstrating that these Martian probes have been designed really well. It would however be nice if one day Spirit was recovered and possibly exposed in a museum of the colony on Mars.