I also love solar power, and I am building a full system for my homestead.
The problem was that the rover was stuck in a sand storm for over two weeks, and her onboard battery died. When sun returned, she undoubtedly recharged; but no longer knew where Earth was due to memory loss. Further communications are no longer possible without antenna alignment reprogramming.
She was a tough little rover that was supposed to only run for 90 days, and she hung in a little longer, LOL!
I wrote on herr about a year ago, a salute to a heroic little robot! They got weather data that changed some of the colony planning from this little beast. We really got our monies worth from this mission!
She should be recovered and placed in the first Martian Museum.
:)>
RE: NASA is back on track to colonize the moon, by destroying some grains of moon material brought back by Apollo 17.