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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Everything breaks down, and now it seems that one of the Rovers has a stuck wheel.

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Summary - (Jul 16, 2004) Engineers with NASA have decided to get Spirit to drive up the Columbia Hills backwards because of an ongoing problem with one of its wheels. The problem cropped up a few months ago, when one of its front wheels started getting extra resistance; they've tried heating it, and giving it rest, but nothing's worked. Spirit is now keeping the wheel locked, and then driving backwards, dragging it along like an anchor. This has saved power, but slowed down its speed a bit. Spirit will still use the wheel when it's trying to cross difficult terrain.

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More here from Universe Today: www.universetoday.com/am/publish/spirits_bad_wheel.html?1672004

[starbux]

Wasn't Sprit the one that stopped functioning for a week or two early in its mission? Seems it wouldn't be the first time it had problems.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Yes...Spirit's harddrive had filled to capacity, and they attempted to reboot the computer numerous times. They finally uploaded all data, and did a reformat. Sigh, so goofy.

They probably installed Windows 95.

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