NASA plans for Mars laboratory

HOUSTON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- The Mars rover known as Spirit may be permanently stuck in the sand but remains of value for scientific exploration, NASA officials said.

The rover program was launched in 2004 with Spirit and Opportunity landing on opposite sides of the planet for what was to be three months of exploration.

Opportunity still roams the planet while Spirit became stuck in sand about nine months ago. The latest attempts to free Spirit sunk it even deeper in the Martian soil, said Doug McCuistion, head of NASA's Mars Exploration Program.

Even stationary, Spirit can record and send data and images on weather and seismology while NASA prepares for next year's launch of the Mars Science Laboratory, which to arrive on Mars in 2012, McCuistion told CNN in a story published Tuesday.

Data from the Mars laboratory would be valuable for a planned venture to merge NASA's Mars program with that of the European Space Agency for joint missions beginning in 2016, including eventual human travel to Mars, NASA said.