NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab manager John Callas said in a statement to the press that “Spirit is in a very difficult situation.”

The problem started after SPIRIT rolled into some loose dirt while driving in reverse.  Besides being stuck in the soil, SPIRIT has lived longer than NASA ever imagined, and its age is starting to show as its gone through a series of malfunctions.  However, the robot community is holding onto hope that the tough Martian rover will pull another trick out of it’s hat and push on with its exploration of the Red Planet.

Read more about SPIRIT’s dangerous predicament here.