Not Likely, I wonder why they waited so long to Activate that package.
The solar conjunction (when the Earth passes between Mars and the sun) begins on Nov. 18th and lasts until Dec. 24th. During that time, the Earth will appear to be a mere speck on the face of the sun. No transmitter made by man can outstrap the sun, so the probe will be unable to receive any further orders from us. Even though it won't hear us for 5 weeks, we will still be able to hear it.
That leaves only a small amount of time to perform a whole lot of work with only a certain available bandwidth at only a certain available power level. The work they had originally planned for the probe comes first, any followup work based on those results comes second, and novelties with little scientific value come last, just before the uplink blackout.
After that, they only have until about Feb. 2 before the probe becomes encased in CO
2 ice, which won't melt again until late Nov. 2009 at the earliest, when the sunlight goes back over 16 hours per martian day. Most likely the batts will be completely spent by then, and may not accept a charge again.
But hey, given the hellacious environment it's been in for the last 5 months, it's a small miracle it's even still operational.
