ONE of Nasas Mars Rovers is no longer responding, and Nasa is thinking about calling it quits and leaving it in the sandy bed. Nasa said it will make one last effort before ditching all efforts to wake-up the Mars Rover Spirit. Spirit fell silent nearly a year ago, and Nasa engineers believe something is seriously wrong with Spirit - something more than just a power issue. Spirit, a solar-powered Rover, sunk into a sand trap in 2009 during a routine drive. Nasa attempted to wiggle it free, but Spirit remained stuck. And since it was unable to tilt itself toward the sun, the Rover went into hibernation. Nasa engineers had expected the rover to wake up once there was maximum sunlight filtrating the location where its trapped, but that moment came and went earlier in March, and Spirit remained silent. If Spirit remains silent within the next month or so, Nasa will instead focus on Spirits twin, Opportunity, which is currently on the other side of the planet. KTSM