NASA Concludes Attempts to Contact Mars Rover Spirit

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

News release: 2011-156 May 24, 2011

NASA Concludes Attempts to Contact Mars Rover Spirit

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-156&cid=release_2011-156

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA is ending attempts to regain contact with the long-lived Mars
Exploration Rover Spirit, which last communicated on March 22, 2010.

A transmission that will end on Wednesday, May 25, will be the last in a series of attempts. Extensive
communications activities during the past 10 months also have explored the possibility that Spirit
might reawaken as the solar energy available to it increased after a stressful Martian winter without
much sunlight. With inadequate energy to run its survival heaters, the rover likely experienced colder
internal temperatures last year than in any of its prior six years on Mars. Many critical components and
connections would have been susceptible to damage from the cold.

Engineers' assessments in recent months have shown a very low probability for recovering
communications with Spirit. Communications assets that have been used by the Spirit mission in the
past, including NASA's Deep Space Network of antennas on Earth, plus two NASA Mars orbiters
that can relay communications, now are needed to prepare for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory
mission. MSL is scheduled to launch later this year.

"We're now transitioning assets to support the November launch of our next generation Mars rover,
Curiosity," said Dave Lavery, NASA's program executive for solar system exploration. "However,
while we no longer believe there is a realistic probability of hearing from Spirit, the Deep Space
Network may occasionally listen for any faint signals when the schedule permits."

Spirit landed on Mars on Jan. 3, 2004, for a mission designed to last three months. After
accomplishing its prime-mission goals, Spirit worked to accomplish additional objectives. Its twin,
Opportunity, continues active exploration of Mars.

For more information on the Mars rovers, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/rovers or
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html . NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project and
Mars Science Laboratory for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

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