Spirit May Have Begun Months-Long Hibernation

PASADENA, Calif., (NASA) -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit skipped a planned communication session on March 30 and, as anticipated from recent power-supply projections, has probably entered a low-power hibernation mode.

In this mode, the rover's clock keeps running, but communications and other activities are suspended in order to put all available energy into heating and battery recharging. When the battery charge is adequate, the rover attempts to wake up and communicate on a schedul [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art19343/spirit-may-have-begun-months-long-hibernation.html