NASA says Spirit will no longer be a rover

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says its Mars rover Spirit is stuck for good and will now function as a stationary research platform for the next chapter in Mars studies.

NASA engineers had worked unsuccessfully since April to free Spirit from loose martian sand in which it had became mired.

"After six years of unprecedented exploration of the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit no longer will be a fully mobile robot," the space agency said in a Tuesday statement, designating the once-roving scientific explorer a stationary science platform.

"Spirit is not dead; it has just entered another phase of its long life," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. "We told the world last year that attempts to set the beloved robot free may not be successful. It looks like Spirit's current location on Mars will be its final resting place."

Engineers said the robot's primary task during the next few weeks will be to position itself to combat the severe Martian winter.

NASA said the rover's solar energy is declining and is expected to become insufficient to maintain communications by mid-February. The rover team said it hopes to improve Spirit's tilt, boosting the amount of sunlight striking its solar panels to enable some communication with Earth during the winter.

Launched in 2003, the Mars rover is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.