Spirit rover

What happened to the Spirit rover?

Spirit got stuck in soft sand in 2009, couldn’t tilt its solar panels toward the winter Sun, and most likely froze.[1][6] Its wheels broke through a thin crust into loose sand at a spot the team called “Troy,” beside a low plateau named Home Plate.[2][9]

1. 2006 · sol 779Its right-front wheel stopped turning. From then on Spirit often drove backward, dragging the locked wheel.[6][10]
2. Apr 23, 2009Driving south beside the western edge of Home Plate, it broke through a crust into a pocket of soft sand. By May 1 it could not move at all.[1][2]
3. Nov 28, 2009A second wheel, the right rear one, stopped working.[1]
4. Jan 26, 2010After months of failed attempts to drive it free, NASA made Spirit a stationary science platform. “Spirit is not dead; it has just entered another phase of its long life,” said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program.[8]
5. Mar 22, 2010 · sol 2,210Spirit’s last signal reached Earth. On Mar 30 it missed a planned call with the Mars Odyssey orbiterOrbiterAn orbiter circles Mars without landing, studying the planet from above — and many also relay rover data back to Earth.More in the glossary.[6][7]
6. Ten monthsEngineers sent more than 1,300 commands to wake it. None got an answer.[1][5]
7. May 25, 2011NASA ended its attempts to contact Spirit and declared the mission complete.[1][5]

In its three earlier winters, the team had parked Spirit tilted north, so its panels faced the Sun. Stuck at Troy, it couldn’t do that.[7] Power had been a worry before: at the end of 2008 a winter storm cut its output to about 89 watt-hours per sol, against a normal 700, until winds blew dust off its panels in 2009.[1] Without enough energy for its survival heaters, it likely got colder inside in 2010 than in any of its six earlier years on Mars, JPL said.[5] The project’s end-of-mission report names dust on the panels, the bad tilt at Troy and the rover’s age as contributing causes, with the root cause “likely the damaging effects of a very cold winter environment.”[6] NASA said the Deep Space Network might still listen now and then, and the report says the search ended on Jul 13, 2011.[5][6]

What was Spirit’s last message?

There was no farewell. Spirit’s last downlinks, ending on Mar 22, 2010, showed a battery running down as winter came on.[7] “The recent downlinks had indicated that the battery state of charge was decreasing, getting close to the level that would put Spirit into this hibernation,” project manager John Callas said on Mar 31, 2010.[7]

In that hibernation, a low-power fault mode, the rover’s clock keeps running, but it stops talking and puts all its energy into heating and recharging. It is meant to call home once its battery has recovered.[7] Spirit never did.

Where did Spirit explore?

Gusev Crater, south of the Martian equator. NASA chose it because it looks like an old crater lakebed.[2] Spirit landed at 04:35 UTC on Jan 4, 2004 (11:35 p.m. EST on Jan 3), bouncing on its airbags 28 times before it rolled to a stop.[1][2] NASA named the spot Columbia Memorial Station, for the seven astronauts killed when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart on Feb 1, 2003.[1]

The plains around it turned out to be lava rock that had seen little water.[6] Spirit headed for a cluster of seven hills about 3 km (2 mi) to the east.[1][12] NASA proposed calling them the Columbia Hills, after the shuttle’s last crew. The tallest, Husband Hill, is named for Columbia’s commander, Rick Husband.[12] By late August 2005, Spirit stood on its summit, 82 m (269 ft) above the plains. It was the first robot to reach the top of a hill on another planet.[4][12]

From there it went down to Home Plate, a pale plateau about 80 m (260 ft) across in the hills’ inner basin.[4][9]

What did Spirit find?

Signs that Gusev was once hot and wet. One of its most important finds came by accident in 2007, when the dragging wheel plowed up bright soil that was about 90% pure silica.[4][11] NASA says the silica likely formed around hot springs or steam vents.[1] “It showed that there were once hot springs or steam vents at the Spirit site, which could have provided favorable conditions for microbial life,” said principal investigator Steve Squyres.[4]

Years are when Spirit made each observation. From NASA’s mission page, JPL news releases and the project’s end-of-mission report.[1][4][6][11]

“What Spirit showed us at Home Plate was that early Mars could be a violent place, with water and hot rock interacting to make what must have been spectacular volcanic explosions,” Squyres said.[4]

How long did Spirit last?

Spirit counted its landing day as solSolA sol is a day on Mars — 24 h 39 min 35 s, about 40 minutes longer than ours — and rovers count them from the day they land.More in the glossary 1. Ratio and years calculated from NASA’s figures.[1][4][6][13]

It survived three Martian winters and two major dust storms.[6] It had help: in March 2005, passing dust devils swept dust off its solar panels and raised its power, NASA says.[1] It also ground into 15 rocks and brushed 92 targets clean for its instruments.[4]

Is Spirit still on Mars?

Yes. It sits at Troy, on the west side of Home Plate, at about 14.6°S, 175.5°E.[6][9] The HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed it there in June 2009, a bright dot beside the pale plateau.[9] Its twin, Opportunity, explored the opposite side of Mars and was still working when NASA ended Spirit’s mission.[1][4]

Mission timeline

1. Jun 10, 2003Launches on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral, at 17:58 UTC.[1][2]
2. Jan 4, 2004Lands in Gusev Crater (UTC; Jan 3 in US time).[1][2]
3. Jan 15, 2004Rolls off its lander onto the surface.[2]
4. Feb 6, 2004Grinds into a rock called “Adirondack,” the first time a rock was ground open on Mars.[1]
5. April 2004Finishes its 90-sol prime mission and starts the first of many extensions.[3][7]
6. August 2005Reaches the summit of Husband Hill.[12]
7. 2006Its right-front wheel stops turning.[4][6]
8. May 2007NASA reports the silica-rich soil its dragging wheel turned up.[11]
9. Apr 23, 2009Breaks through a crust into soft sand at Troy.[2]
10. Jan 26, 2010NASA makes it a stationary science platform.[8]
11. Mar 22, 2010Last contact, as winter closes in.[6][7]
12. May 25, 2011NASA ends the mission.[1][5]

Sources

1. NASA Science — SpiritPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
2. NASA NSSDCA — Spirit (2003-027A)Primary · checked Oct 6, 2026
3. NASA GISS — Mars24: landers and roversPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
4. NASA JPL — NASA’s Spirit Rover Completes Mission on MarsPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
5. NASA JPL — NASA Concludes Attempts to Contact Mars Rover SpiritPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
6. NASA Technical Reports Server — Mars Exploration Rover Spirit End of Mission Report (JPL D-92756)Primary · checked Oct 6, 2026
7. NASA JPL — Spirit May Have Begun Months-Long HibernationPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
8. NASA JPL — NASA’s Mars Rover Spirit Starts a New ChapterPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
9. NASA Science (Photojournal) — Orbital View of Spirit at ‘Troy’Primary · checked Oct 6, 2026
10. NASA Science (Photojournal) — ‘Calypso’ Panorama of Spirit’s View from ‘Troy’Primary · checked Oct 6, 2026
11. NASA JPL — Mars Rover Spirit Unearths Surprise Evidence of Wetter PastPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
12. NASA JPL — NASA’s Durable Spirit Sends Intriguing New Images From MarsPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
13. NASA GISS — Mars24 Sunclock — Technical Notes on Mars Solar TimePrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026