LOS ANGELES, Jan 23: The Mars rover Spirit resumed sending data to Earth on Friday after the robot suffered from garbled communications and periods of intermittent silence, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Friday.

JPL, which manages the Mars project for NASA, said in a statement on its Web site that the flight team received data from Spirit for 20 minutes. "The spacecraft sent limited data in a proper response to a ground command, and we're planning for commanding further communication sessions later today," Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager Pete Theisinger said.

The six-wheeled craft landed on the red planet on Jan. 3 for a planned three-month mission. Officials had described the loss of communications as a "very serious anomaly."

The scientists reported on Thursday Spirit had radioed a signal indicating it was receiving Earth transmissions even though it had not resumed sending data back to Earth.-Reuters