As feared, space agency Nasa has finally given up on trying to
communicate with Spirit, its long-lived Mars Exploration Rover,
after its wheels got clogged up with Martian dirt in 2009. The
stuck buggy last communicated with researchers on Earth on 22
March, 2010. It then shut off its batteries and prepared itself
for the brittle temperatures of the forthcoming Martian Normally
the rover would park itself on a sun-facing hill where it could
just about keep its internal temperature over -40 Celsius with
the little sunlight available. But because it was stuck on flat
ground the robot explorer would be subjected to harsh -55C
nights. Nasa wasn't sure if Spirit would be able to survive
until summer solstice rolled around in March 2011. For the past
ten months, researchers at Nasa have been calling out to Spirit,
hoping that its batteries would still be operational and the
buggy's solar panels would pick up enough sunlight to juice up
the rover. It tragically never happened, and on 25 May 2011 Nasa
sent out the la