Waiting for Springtime... (2) - Sol 961

Spirit is beginning to see an upward trend in electrical power as Winter slowly recedes and the Sun ascends higher in the sky each day. Electrical power from the Rover's solar array rose to 287 watt-hours on the Rover's 958th Sol (such as Sept. 12, 2006) of exploration, compared with 277 watt-hours on Sol 944 (such as Aug. 29, 2006). One hundred watt-hours is the amount of electricity needed to light one 100-watt bulb for one hour.

During the past week, Spirit conducted 10 hours of analysis of the elemental composition of dust on the Rover's magnets using the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer. Spirit also finished taking images of the spacecraft deck.