Losing Hope For Spirit

More than a year has passed since NASA was in contact with its Mars rover, Spirit. Managers of the rover program have been trying for several weeks to rouse Spirit. They had hoped that the arrival of Martian spring at Spirit's position would increase the energy available to the rover's solar arrays, thus enabling communication, but that hasn't happened. NASA plans to keep trying to raise Spirit for another few weeks, but the agency is not expecting success. In the meantime, Spirit's twin, Opportunity, continues to rip right along after more than seven years of exploration.