[X] My Assistant

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Looks like Spirit and Opportunity will be going into winter hibernation soon

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3872975.stm
http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?o...order=0&thold=0
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5353015/

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

hmmm..I never thought about that, I thought the process of puting out the RAW data was automated.

Heres a quote from another article:

"I think it is entirely possible that we will make it through the Martian winter with at least one of these vehicles," said Steve Squyres, the chief scientist for the Mars rover mission. "If we can survive the deepest part of the winter ... and the situation starts to improve, conceivably we could go months beyond that. So it's not inconceivable that we could go into 2005."

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040707-031016-2765r

Its not really clear how long they intend to "hibernate" so to speak. I think September was a particularly critical time for the mission in terms of power, but how and when do things improve after that?