NASA Mars Rover Spirit Update Spirit Remains Silent at Troy

Spirit Status for sol 2527-2532

No communication has been received from Spirit since Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010).

The solar conjunction communication moratorium has concluded. Solar conjunction is the period when communications between Earth and Mars are disrupted because the Sun is directly in between the two planets.

The Deep Space Network (DSN) X-band listening and “Sweep & Beep” commanding have resumed. The Sweep & Beep paging strategy has been changed and augmented. The Sweep & Beep command duration has been shortened to 10 minutes, increasing the number of command attempts and the possibility of commands being received within the 20-minute awake (fault) window for the case of a mission clock fault response on Spirit.

Further, the DSN X-band frequency reference offset will be stepped over a much larger range to account for the possibility of a degraded receiver on the rover. DSN passes have also been modified to occur over different local times of day on Mars covering the possibility that the rover’s clock has drifted significantly since March of 2010. The period of maximum solar insolation (energy production) for Spirit occurs around mid-March 2011.

Total odometry is unchanged at 7,730.50 meters (4.80 miles).