The Mars Rover Spirit has stopped communicating.  We have no contact with Spirit.

Everything was going smoothly Untill Spirit stopped responding and sending Data. The conditions that are causing this are unknown.  Scientists are baffeled on what the problem could be.  As NASA tries to implent back-up plans, We can only wait to see what Unfolds next.

All hope is not lost.  THe second Mars Rover "Opportunity". She is scheduled to land on the Martian Surface Saturday night, around 9:05 pm PST (Sunday, 5:05 am UTC).

Its almost like we are living the same Mars Trip again and again.  This is not the first problematic mission to the red planet.

Possible Senerios I can think of are:

1: Lack of solar energy prohibiting Spirit from Communicating, Possibly caused by sand storms, blockage of sun, and/or other difficulties.

2: Software crash, On-board computer malfunction, possibly caused by cold solder, shorted circuits, and unpredictable atmospheric effects.

3: Broken Hardware, possible from the landing, or the weather. Or even human error

4: Maybe NASA discovered something they can't release until it has been closely evaluated.

For all we know, An Alien Race cound have Taken Spirits Transmiting Units and plan to communicate to Us.   But most likely, its just a Computer Problem.

Nasa Press Release http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20040121a.html

Cnn Report http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/22/spirit.contact/index.html