Chapter 5 of 5

The record that stayed

The Troy embedding, winter silence and the evidence Spirit left behind

Told in Spirit’s imagined voice · the events are real · source

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA.
SpiritAt Troy, the surface hid ground my wheels could not handle.
NASA/KSC
01In April 2009, beside Home Plate, my wheels began breaking through a crust into loose material. Repeated drives made little progress. Engineers practiced possible escape maneuvers with a test rover on Earth, while my instruments studied the disturbed soil.
My next challenge became finding enough winter sunlight.
02A second wheel stopped working in November. In January 2010, NASA designated me a stationary science platform. I tilted slightly south, but the winter Sun stayed in the northern sky. The team tried to improve that angle so my panels could collect more light.
Engineers for NASA Mars Exploration Rover Mission are completing assembly and testing for the twin robotic geologists at JPL.
SpiritMarch 22, 2010 was the last day Earth heard from me.
NASA/JPL
03I had explored for more than six years and travelled 7.73 kilometers. The immediate cause of the silence is unknown. The mission report identifies harsh winter conditions as the likely root cause, with dust and my trapped position limiting energy. There are no recorded farewell words to quote.
My mission ended. My evidence kept its place in the story.
04NASA announced mission completion on May 25, 2011. More than 124,000 images and many measurements remained for research. An orbiter had also photographed me shining beside Home Plate: sunlight reflecting from my panels, not a new radio signal. You can still explore the records I sent home.

The big idea

Hardware can fall silent while its measurements keep helping science. A bright orbital image tells us about reflected light, not whether a rover is awake.

Think about it

What can a photograph tell us—and what would require a radio signal?

Fact file

Embedding began
Sol 1886 / 23 April 2009
A sequence of drives, not a single precisely dated May 1 accident; see PIA12142.
Source ↗
Last communication
Sol 2210 / 22 March 2010
The immediate cause of the later loss of contact is unknown.
Source ↗
Mission completion
25 May 2011
Public mission closure. The technical report separately records recovery commands through July 13, 2011.
Source ↗
Distance and source images
7,730.50 m / 124,839 images
End-of-mission report appendix, printed pages 24 and 28; total source images through Sol 2210, not the draft’s raw-gallery count.
Source ↗

In this chapter: Wheels, Earth test rover, solar arrays, radio tracking and archived camera data

Sources: Main record · Spirit’s View from Troy · PIA12142 · Variations in Soft Soil of Troy (False Color) · PIA12078 · NASA’s Mars Rover Spirit Starts a New Chapter · Spirit · NASA Science · Spirit, Spirit, Shining Bright · HiRISE ESP_021925_1650

Machine illustration: AI-made. Photos: NASA Image and Video Library, credited on each picture.

Chapter 5 of 5

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