Rover in Mars not sending messages. Uh oh.

[GmanJoe]

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20040121a.html

Ground controllers were able to send commands to the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit early Wednesday and received a simple signal acknowledging that the rover heard them, but they did not receive expected scientific and engineering data during scheduled communication passes during the rest of that martian day.

Basically, it\'s no longer talking to us anymore. The Martians found it. :eek:

It got an anal probe

[GmanJoe]

Still no message from the Rover! The aliens found it! I told you! I betcha they\'re out there moon buggying like a bunch of crazy teenagers on the electric rover!

and to make matters worse...
Mars Express has discovered water in the polar “ice” caps

Mars Rover Resumes Sending Data Back to Earth
Fri 23 January, 2004 18:26

 

By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Mars rover Spirit resumed sending some data to Earth on Friday, allaying some fears it had failed after two days of garbled communications and periods of intermittent silence, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.

JPL, which manages the Mars project for NASA, said in a statement on its Web site that the flight team received a low-speed data transmission from Spirit starting at 1326 GMT (8:26 a.m. EST) and continuing for 20 minutes.

"The spacecraft sent limited data in a proper response to a ground command, and we\'re planning for commanding further communication sessions later today," Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager Pete Theisinger said.

The flight team had sent a signal beforehand from a NASA antenna complex in Spain with commands for Spirit to begin transmitting.

The six-wheeled craft landed on the red planet on Jan. 3 for a planned three-month mission. Officials had described the loss of communications as a "very serious anomaly."

On Thursday, Spirit radioed a signal indicating it was receiving Earth transmissions, but it did not resume sending data back to Earth. It had been unable to return any science or telemetry data since early Wednesday.

LISTENING STATION IN SPAIN

Officials at a NASA deep space listening station in Robledo de Chavela, about 44 miles west of Madrid, were positive.

"At about 1334 Spanish time (7:34 a.m. EST/1234 GMT) we received an approximately 10-minute long data transmission from the rover," Marcus Watkins, NASA\'s representative in Spain, said.

"Of course that made everyone very happy ... but it contained little information."

"NASA sent another command via Robledo de Chavela at 1402 (8:02 a.m. EST/1302 GMT) and the rover responded with a 20-minute pass at 1426 (8:26 a.m. EST), with a full health and status report," he said, adding:

"We are evaluating the data we received and are cautiously optimistic at this point in time."

"We know we have a live rover out there and it is capable of transmitting signals and evaluating commands. It\'s sent a complete communication and is no longer transmitting bleeps on the emergency channel ... This is a very positive sign."

Another rover, dubbed Opportunity, is scheduled to land on the other side of Mars in the early hours of Sunday morning. JPL said that mission is on course.

Earlier Friday, the European Space Agency said its Mars mission had confirmed the presence of frozen water on the planet\'s surface.

[GmanJoe]

The message received was "Mars Needs Women."

Microsoft strikes again?

Anyway, very nice pictures from Mars Express.