The last data we had from the spacecraft came down on September 26. We expected it to wake up the next day about 2 a.m. We assumed that the battery had finally died and that the spacecraft had dropped into a contingency mode. This appeared to work as we heard a signal from the spacecraft on October 7, starting and stopping exactly when we expected it to. However, the same commands, sent at the same times, failed to produce any result on the succeeding three days and we have had no contact since then.
Theories abound, of course.
One is that because the transmitter and the spacecraft have been off for so long, the spacecraft is cooling down to temperatures below where it was tested. This may have changed the wavelengths at which the spacecraft is transmitting and receiving, but much more than anticipated. But the fact remains that we haven't had any data from the spacecraft since September, we can't reliably command the spacecraft and we don't know what's wrong. And so, as I said before, it's getting scary. This may be the end of the project.