Only last weekend the JPL team which is leading the operations of the two rovers on Mars declared alert after the on board computer of Spirit has rebooted twice .The robot communicated with the Earth ground station Friday as well as in weekend but the transmission was blurred although physically speaking the board parameters were nominal (the solar panels produce sufficient energy, the batteries are loaded and the external temperature are normal).

Spirit has 2 ways of communicating with Earth: either through direct transmission, indirect transmission, or using the UHF band to redirect the date to the satellites in orbit around Mars.

Last weekend the communication was set to go on using the main on board antenna but it seems that one reboot took place during this communication. For now the reasons for this event were not discovered but for security improvement the choices was not to use the antenna anymore.

In the following period the accent will go on the physical data collecting for the onboard equipment downsizing the data resulted from scientific measurements especially in order to help the research team find out the source of the malfunction.

One of the suspicions refers to the software which was replaced last month but on the other hand the same software operates the other rover and there didnt appear any kind of problems. Another chance can be the fact that the electronic became old.

The rovers turn 5 in January and although the working parameters are normal, a thorough investigation could unveil malfunctions that can only add to the list of already known problems. (Spirit operates since 2006 with only 5 of the 6 wheels).

Momentarily parked on Home Plate (Spirit) and on Endeavour Crater (Opportunity), the two rovers are waited the date of 21 April when Mars came at a full orbit of 23 month around the Sun and in the closest point to it. The rise of the temperature and the dust storms accompanied the phenomenon and endangered the scientific experiments ran by the two robots.

Because the solar energy is responsible for the functioning of the electrical gear the operations team had to make a compromise between the security of the robots and the continuance of the scientific experiments.

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