Spirit in trouble…
As we found out yesterday, dust storms ended the life of Phoenix, and today a JPL release tells us that Spirit is now suffering, producing less energy from its solar panels than it has at any point in the past five years. The forecast is better for the next few days, but the fear is that dust which has settled onto the solar panels will stay there unless a friendly gust of wind blows it off.
We always knew Phoenix was going to reach the end of its mission sooner rather than later, but Spirit and Opportunity had begun to look invincible. The mission team are clearly thinking similar thoughts, with the recent decision to send Opportunity off across the Martian plains to a distant crater. Let’s hope this is nothing more than a timely reminder that Mars is a harsh place for a spacecraft, and that Spirit hangs on for the better weather that’s on the way.
