Well, looks like the Martian Defence Forces have chalked up another victory...

[Dalmatian90]

NASA: Spirit Rover Not Sending Data
4:09 PM EST,January 22, 2004
By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer

PASADENA, Calif. -- 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, its 18th day on Mars. Since then, it has only sporadically returned random, meaningless radio noise, scientists said. Initially, the scientists believed weather problems on Earth caused the glitch. They said they now believe the rover is 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 also has 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.

[FlyingKiwi]

They said they now believe the rover is experiencing hardware or software problems

So thats why NASA employes all them syntists. Thems real smart buggers thems is.

[Adze39]

There was an editorial cartoon a week or so ago with a couple of Martians shooting a NASA probe and making some sort of comment about proper clearance, making fun of both NASA and the DHS.

[SPFDRum]

Maybe the next rover should be made by a couple of kids from a science fair. Or better yet, one of those goofballs that designs the robots for "Robo-wars". After watching that show, you know those are bullet proof!

[hfd66truck]

GTR

Grand Theft Rover

I can't wait til the second rover lands and finds the first rover chopped with the parts for sale on Ebay!

[ChiefReason]

Looks like a job for Orange County Choppers. A three wheeled V-twin should do the trick.
CR

[12TruckIrons]

Nah none of those will work. What they need is to stick a motor and camera in one of the old tonka toys dump trucks from the early 80'2 you know the ones made from steel that no mater how hard you tried you coulnt break. I buried on for right at 4 years and when i dug it up it was a bit rusted but still worked perfectly.

[Fire304]

Dateline Mars...

Evidence of WMD (Weapons of Martian Design) was uncovered today by the NASA probe Spirit just before it ceased to transmit. NASA is not sure what happened and is hoping for a joint UN resolution to investigate the situation.

Meanwhile MDF Supreme Commander Kang made a brief statement today regarding the NASA rover Spirit. "Foolish earthlings, did you really think we would not be able to stop your most recent attempts to exploit Mars' oil fields? I have to admit, this one was better than the last few, we actually had to go an find it, but just a few shots from our French made laser and now it is a coffee table in our living room, HAHAHAHAHAHAhahaaa..."

MDF Minister of Information Kodos released the following statement, "The Mars Rover has been destroyed, in fact, there never was a Mars Rover, it was all propaganda by that Urk-Dog Bush and his puppets the English. Viva la French. HAHAHAHAHhahahahahaaaa..."

[hwoods]

Originally posted by Dalmatian90

Spirit is one half of a $820 million mission.


Well, let's see........ Transfer that 820 Mil. to the FEMA Grant program.

3,280 pumpers @ .25m each Yep, that's a start....

[stm4710]

Updated: 11:16 AM EST
NASA Gets Signal From Mars Rover
Agency Trying to Diagnose Problem With Spirit
By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP

PASADENA, Calif. (Jan. 23) -- NASA received data from the Spirit rover Friday morning for the first time in two days, easing scientists' anxiety that the Mars mission had come to a calamitous halt.





The six-wheeled rover communicated for 10 minutes at about 4:30 a.m. and transmitted ''limited data'' for 20 minutes about an hour later, officials said in statements early Friday.

''The spacecraft sent limited data in a proper response to a ground command, and we're planning for commanding further communication sessions later today,'' said Pete Theisinger, rover project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Engineers are eager to pore over data from Spirit to assess the health of the spacecraft, pinpoint any problems and allow NASA to begin working on a potential fix or fixes.

Scientists planned a Friday morning news conference to explain the signals. Officials said Friday's signals were received by NASA's Deep Space Network antenna complex near Madrid, Spain.

Since Wednesday, its 19th day on Mars, the Spirit had sent back to Earth only meaningless radio noise or simple beeps acknowledging receipt of commands.

Among the possible causes: a corruption of its software or computer memory. If the software is awry, NASA can fix it from Earth by beaming patches across more than 100 million miles of space or by rebooting the rover's computer. But if the problem lies with the rover's hardware, the situation would be far more grave - perhaps beyond repair.

Baffled scientists were still working to pinpoint the trouble Friday morning.

''It is precisely like trying to diagnose a patient with different symptoms that don't corroborate,'' said Firouz Naderi, manager of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mars exploration program.

Spirit is one-half of an $820 million mission. Its twin, Opportunity, is expected to land on Mars late Saturday. The twin rovers are supposed to examine the Red Planet's dry rocks and soil for evidence that it was once wetter and more hospitable to life.

Until Wednesday, Spirit had functioned almost flawlessly and NASA scientists and engineers had been jubilant.

Cushioned by its air bags, the rover made a bull's-eye landing, surviving what was by far the most dangerous part of the mission - the descent through the atmosphere at 12,000 mph. Then on Jan. 15, in another nail-biting moment for NASA, the rover safely rolled down a ramp onto Mars' ruddy soil without becoming snagged.

It has snapped thousands of pictures, including breathtaking panoramic views and microscopic images of the martian soil. It also carried out preliminary work analyzing the minerals and elements that make up its surroundings.

The problem surfaced while Spirit was preparing to resume analysis of its first rock, just a few yards from where it landed.

Early Thursday, NASA initially heard nothing from Spirit that would indicate it was in ''fault mode,'' a state that the rover enters by itself when it has experienced a problem. Later, NASA sent a command to Spirit as if it were in fault mode, anyway. Spirit acknowledged with a beep that it received the command, indicating an onboard problem. That puzzled engineers.

The rover had since missed several scheduled opportunities to communicate, both directly with Earth and by way of two NASA satellites in orbit around Mars. It finally communicated at 4:34 a.m. Friday, about 90 minutes after it ''woke up'' for the day, officials said. At 5:26 a.m., data was sent at a faster rate for 20 minutes.

The rover's radio appeared to be working, and it continued to generate power from the sun with its solar panels. Spirit's internal clock also was running and had roused the rover several times on cue.

JPL director Charles Elachi said that once NASA receives engineering signals, ''we can do a diagnostic and understand what happened, what are the corrective actions that need to be done and how do we bring it carefully and thoughtfully to its normal operation mode.''

Initially, engineers believed bad weather on Earth - a thunderstorm near a Deep Space Network antenna in Australia - had caused the communications glitch. But weather was later discounted as the source.

[E229Lt]

Perhaps beneath the first rock was an Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space ModulatorIt's Here (http://www.barbneal.com/wav/ltunes/marvin/Marvin05.wav)

[Engine101]

Hey Adze I saw that little cartoon also
Two aliens were making a comment about keeping track of foregin visitors as the rover goes by,


On another note all of you have way to much time on your hands

[Fire304]

Overheard from Mars...

"Kodos, why the hell is the coffee table moving?"

[CollegeBuff]

Dude, where's my rover???

:confused: :confused: :confused:

[Ladder8]

NASA released the first picture after regaining contact with the Mars rover....

[CaptainGonzo]

Artie was right!

[tower333]

The last image taken by the rover.....

[E229Lt]

Where's the KaBoom (http://www.barbneal.com/wav/ltunes/marvin/Marvin03.wav)

[gfowlston]

Hey I have an idea lets give more money to NASA, oh wait Bush has already thought of that.

[E229Lt]

.Marvin Knows the problem (http://www.barbneal.com/wav/ltunes/marvin/Marvin04.wav)

[WTFD10]

Tower 333 had me ROFLMFAO and only his second post!

Welcome to the forums!

[SFDAJL52]

ACK ACK!

[StayBack500FT]

"Hello, OnStar...What's your emergency?"