Mars rover resumes contact with Earth

9.20am


LOS ANGELES - The Mars rover Spirit resumed sending some data to Earth this morning, allaying some fears it had failed after two days of garbled communications and periods of intermittent silence, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.

JPL, which manages the Mars project for NASA, said in a statement on its website that the flight team received a low-speed data transmission from Spirit starting at 1326 GMT (2.30am) and continuing for 20 minutes.

"The spacecraft sent limited data in a proper response to a ground command, and we're planning for commanding further communication sessions later today," Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager Pete Theisinger said.

The flight team had sent a signal beforehand from a NASA antenna complex in Spain with commands for Spirit to begin transmitting.

The six-wheeled craft landed on the red planet on January 3 for a planned three-month mission. Officials had described the loss of communications as a "very serious anomaly."

On Thursday, Spirit radioed a signal indicating it was receiving Earth transmissions, but it did not resume sending data back to Earth. It had been unable to return any science or telemetry data since early Wednesday.

LISTENING STATION IN SPAIN

Officials at a NASA deep space listening station in Robledo de Chavela, slightly west of Madrid, were positive.

"At about 1.34pm Spanish time (1.30am) we received an approximately 10-minute long data transmission from the rover," Marcus Watkins, NASA's representative in Spain, said.

"Of course that made everyone very happy ... but it contained little information."

"NASA sent another command via Robledo de Chavela at 2.02pm and the rover responded with a 20-minute pass at 2.26pm, with a full health and status report," he said, adding:

"We are evaluating the data we received and are cautiously optimistic at this point in time.

"We know we have a live rover out there and it is capable of transmitting signals and evaluating commands. It's sent a complete communication and is no longer transmitting bleeps on the emergency channel ... This is a very positive sign."

Another rover, dubbed Opportunity, is scheduled to land on the other side of Mars in the early hours of Sunday morning. JPL said that mission is on course.

Earlier Friday, the European Space Agency said its Mars mission had confirmed the presence of frozen water on the planet's surface.