Humanity's Surrogate On Mars Nears It's End *UPDATED*

In January of the year 2004, humans from the country called the United States Of America sent towards Mars two remotely operated vehicles named Spirit and Opportunity whose mission it was to explore the Martian geology with some of the most advanced and innovative equipment they could create.

They landed safely and have been crawling along the surface of Mars for these past five years, surviving broken wheels, dust storms, Martian winters of minimal sunlight to power themselves, ridiculous cold and unbearable heat.

Click here to see an image of Spirit's travel path.

Both rovers were originally expected to fulfill a 90 Martian day mission. They have far exceeded humanity's expectations and hopes for them.
At the start of this month, Spirit became stuck in sand/dust that was described by NASA scientists as akin to the finest of talcum powder.
In the vastness of our solar system and of space it is the small things that can kill you. The other rover, Opportunity, is way too far away on the other side of the planet to come and help in any way. Spirit already had been driving backwards for the better part of three years due to a broken right front wheel it has been dragging along behind it.

The Rover's broken wheel ironically allowed it to make a great discovery when, as shown in the image above, the wheel scraped off the Martian topsoil and exposed a white substance that turned out to be ice. This was a great discovery.
The Rovers have been stuck in dunes before, but this one appears to be too much to overcome. Scientists are busy planning different strategies to try and free Spirit. -FUPPETS- will keep you updated as events occur.

*Below is an image of the MARS Rover Spirit. taken by itself, showing the current situation and the soft terrain it is stuck in. Click the image for a more detailed, and larger version.