Spirit obit

It may be wise to change the title to use the full word "obituary," instead of something that might be read as "orbit."

I'll admit I'm struggling not to anthropomorphize Spirit too much here. Maybe it's the face-like features of the mast mounted pan-cam. Maybe it's that XKCD strip from awhile back...

Or maybe it's the compelling story of excellent engineering that created something able to keep expanding our knowledge of the Universe so much beyond what was planned.

Either way, I can't help but feel a twinge of sadness, even as I say congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make it the succes it was.

The mars rover project is a source of inspiration for hackers everywhere. JPL should be applauded for the successful design and deployment of a "product" in some of the harshest imaginable conditions and then have it exceed expectations more than 10 times over. A testament to what can be accomplished with a billion dollars.

From the images in the video, the blogging from last year and the fate of previous missions, it seems likely that a major factor in the shutdown was dust on the solar panels[1] which combined with low-light winter conditions to compromise the health of the electronics when they could no longer be heated. Future rovers may be able to self-clean the panels[1], giving a much longer theoretical lifespan (at least for this component).

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleaning_event

[2] http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.asp...