Rut-roh, Rover! We have a problem.

[GalvestonDuck]

Apparently, NASA has been able to send instructions to Rover and they are receiving the typical blips and bleeps that acknowledge reception. But they haven't received anymore scientific data or photography back in at least 24 hours.

[southerngale]

NASA: No data from Spirit rover in more than 24 hours

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — NASA's Spirit rover stopped transmitting data from Mars for more than 24 hours, mission managers said Thursday, calling it an "extremely serious anomaly."

NASA last heard from Spirit early Wednesday. Since then, it has returned just random, meaningless radio noise — and only then sporadically, scientists said. Initially, the scientists said they believed weather problems on Earth caused the glitch. They now said they believe the rover was experiencing hardware or software problems.

"This is a serious problem. This is an extremely serious anomaly," project manager Pete Theisinger said.

Spirit is one half of a $820 million mission. Its twin, Opportunity, is scheduled to land on Mars on Saturday.

NASA last heard from Spirit as it prepared to continue its work examining its first rock, just a few yards from its lander.

Since then, Spirit has transmitted just a few beeps to Earth in response to attempts to communicate with it. It has also skipped several scheduled communications opportunities, either directly with Earth or by way of two NASA satellites in orbit around Mars.

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory worked to pinpoint the yet-unknown problem.

"It's not clear there is one cause ... that would explain the observables we're seeing," deputy project manager Richard Cook said.




http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=USATODAY.com+-+NASA%3A+No+data+from+Spirit+rover+in+more+than+24+hours&expire=&urlID=9015236&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fscience%2F2004-01-22-mars_x.htm&partnerID=1660

[weatherluvr]

The working theory now is that it is a software problem, which means the mission can be saved. The "beeps" it is sending back instead of data is an indication that the rover's computer is in safe mode, and that there is no power failure. Apparently the computer became confused either by a cosmic radiation burst, or by the storms occuring over Australia as instructions were being radioed up, scrambling the signal.

It is possible the rover's computer has been erased, which is fixable from earth and should not affect the goals of the mission, which obviously is great news. If you'll recall, Pathfinder had similar glitches a couple of times during its mission.

[stormraiser]

Latest word is that they did infact make contact for about 10 minutes sometime today.