Gary W. Swearingen wrote:
They said at the 9 AM (PST) briefing that they were telling everyone
to get some sleep during the rover's normal sleep period, so I don't
expect any more news until this evening (PST).

This morning (PST) they sent up a simple command and got unconfirmed
news from the DSN that the rover replied with an indication that it
was in fault mode. A previous (but recent) pre-scheduled fault-mode
communication didn't happen and the symptoms are not ones that point
to previously-considered problems.

Been pretty happy with the spaceflightnow.com site. It is now looking
like Spirit went into "safe mode". If that is true, it looks like we
will hear nothing from them via MGS or MO tonite. Looks like they will
try to get a "core dump" (my words) around 6AM EST. I feel good that
their "ping" worked.


For others that didn't get the URL:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/status.html

These guys seem to really be on top of the story and have been getting
the news out quickly. Their latest release dated Thursday 2320GMT
is the last one I read. I will be hitting Reload every so often.


For as bummed as I was feeling today about the MER-A problem, I don't
think
I can even imagine how the JPL folks are feeling. One part of the story
mentioned above they said they sent the team to go home and get some
rest.
Yea, right, If I was one of them, I doubt I would manage any shut eye.

Sam Seiber