The robotic vehicles on Mars survived the cold, the storms, but will not survive the sword of budget cuts

To cut $4 million from Mars rover operations, NASA will shut down the Spirit spacecraft and cut Opportunity's operations in half. The scientists in the project are angry

NASA scientists plan to silence one of the two robots patrolling Mars and reduce the activity of the other to a minimum, in order to fulfill the demand from the space agency to cut four million dollars from the project's budget.

The latest decision was made following belt-tightening at NASA headquarters, which is under pressure to free up a large portion of the budget for the main goal - landing a vehicle the size of a Hummer that will tour Mars next year.

The Spirit and Opportunity rovers, powered by the solar wind, surprised scientists with their findings, which include geological evidence that water once flowed on or near the surface. The project, whose original cost was 820 million dollars, was planned to continue for another three months, but these vehicles are already in their fourth year of operation. NASA spends $20 million a year to keep them operational.

NASA's latest order to cut $4 million will require Spirit to hibernate in the coming weeks, said the project's principal investigator, Steve Squires of Cornell University. "The decision caused damage to the team's morale," he said.

Spirit was parked on a slope on Mars, and it was supposed to collect atmospheric measurements before the budget decree landed. Instead, it will now remain in hibernation for most of the winter and stop collecting scientific data. The heads of NASA's Jet Propulsion Center (JPL) announced that they would not appeal the cut.

A NASA spokesman said on behalf of the agency's director, Michael Griffin, that he opposes shutting down one of the vehicles. The spokesperson did not say whether the funding is sitting at any stage for the project or whether cuts can be made in other projects on Mars to prevent Spirit from being shut down.

"The cut was made while the robots are in the middle of a discovery operation," said deputy principal investigator Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis. "We're not done yet, there's still a lot to discover," he concluded.

Besides decommissioning Spirit, the scientists plan to curtail the operation of the second vehicle, Opportunity, which is exploring a large crater near the equator of Mars. Instead of sending it motion commands or a request for rock research every day, it will only be powered up once every two days, said John Callas, JPL's project manager.

"Any cuts to any time these vehicles are still in operational condition are poorly timed," Callas said. "These components still show vitality and are in good health," he added.