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I'm JPL Mars rover driver Scott Maxwell, and this is a Mars rover update.
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The MER operations team heaved a collective sigh of relief as we heard from Spirit right on schedule this week, 
[00:00:17]
despite a dangerous Martian dust storm that darkened the skies above her location.
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This dramatic series of images taken by Spirit over a ten-sol period shows the sun being nearly blotted out by the storm, then slowly re-emerging.
[00:00:29]
The storm reduced the energy generated by Spirit's solar panels to an all-time low of only 89 watt-hours. 
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That's about what it takes to run an ordinary kitchen light bulb for only an hour and a half.  
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As a result, the team instructed Spirit to take emergency measures--not to burn costly energy communicating with Earth, 
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but instead take every available step to reduce energy and ride out the storm.
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The strategy worked great. Spirit is in much better shape now. Her energy level has doubled from its all time low, although it's still very low. 
[00:00:56]
So she's still in intensive care, but she's out of critical condition. 
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We hope that her energy level will continue to improve over the next few days, and the storm continues to abate, and we'll hear from her again soon.
[00:01:07]
Meanwhile on the other side of Mars, Spirit's twin sister, Opportunity, is far away from this storm.  
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It's rolling happily along under sunny Martian skies, and making excellent progress toward her next goal, Endeavour Crater.
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I'm Scott Maxwell, and this has been a Mars rover update.
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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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