Although the Mars rovers have gone way, way beyond the call of duty (the original mission was for 90 days; Opportunity is still active after more than six years), the dream has to end sometime — and evidence is mounting that for Spirit, the first of the two rovers to touch down, may be down for the count. After a year of being trapped in sand, its last big hope was a big solar boost over this last month, but it seems that was insufficient to bring the poor little guy back to life, and NASA is moving on.
It’s not impossible that it could be reinvigorated by a fresh breeze and some sun (like many of us), but things don’t look good.