Spirit, also known as MER-A (Mars Exploration Rover - A) or MER-2, is a robotic rover on Mars, active from 2004 to 2010. It was one of two rovers of NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission. It landed successfully on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin, Opportunity (MER-B), landed on the other side of the planet. Its name was chosen through a NASA-sponsored student essay competition.
Both rovers passed their original mission time of 90 sols many times over and the extended time on the surface, and therefore additional stress on components, resulted in some issues developing. On sol 778 (March 13, 2006), the right front wheel ceased working after having covered 4.2 mi (7 km) on Mars. Engineers began driving the rover backwards, dragging the dead wheel. Although this resulted in changes to driving techniques, the dragging effect became a useful tool, partially clearing away soil on the surface as the rover traveled, thus allowing areas to be imaged that would normally be inaccessible. However, in mid-December 2009, to the surprise of the engineers, the right front wheel showed slight movement in a wheel-test on sol 2113 and clearly rotated with normal resistance on three of four wheel-tests on sol 2117, but stalled on the fourth. On sols 2100-2101 (Nov 29, 2009), the right rear wheel also stalled and remained inoperable for the remainder of the mission. Scientific instruments also experienced degradation as a result of exposure to the harsh Martian environment and use over a far longer period than had been anticipated by the mission planners. Over time, the diamond in the resin grinding surface of the Rock Abrasion Tool wore down, after that the device could only be used to brush targets. All of the other science instruments and engineering cameras continued to function until contact was lost; however, towards the end of Spirit's life, the MIMOS II Mossbauer spectrometer took much longer to produce results than it did earlier in the mission because of the decay of its cobalt-57 gamma ray source that has a half life of 271 days.

Q: What kind of equipment failures were there?
A: On sol 778 (March 13, 2006), the right front wheel ceased working

Q: What did they do to fix the problem?
A: Engineers began driving the rover backwards, dragging the dead wheel.

Q: Were they able to get it working properly again?
A: the right rear wheel also stalled and remained inoperable for the remainder of the mission.
Were there other problems with equipment wear?
Over time, the diamond in the resin grinding surface of the Rock Abrasion Tool wore down, Scientific instruments also experienced degradation as a result of exposure to the harsh Martian environment planners. Over time, the diamond in the resin grinding surface of the Rock Abrasion Tool wore down, Scientific instruments also experienced degradation
Scientific instruments also experienced degradation