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Published online 5 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1066
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Mars rover plans its escape
Crunch time approaches for a decision on how to free Spirit from a sand trap.
After being stuck in soft soil on Mars for six months, Spirit, one of two NASA rovers on the red planet, is about to attempt an escape.
"It's likely that this process will take months and we don't even know if we'll be successful," says John Callas, project manager for Spirit and its twin rover Opportunity at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
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I guess this question stems from my ignorance, but is there any way to use Spirit's arm as a lever to relieve ground pressure on one side of the chassie and move it to the other?
Firstly, I deeply appreciate NASA team for making such a huge huge contribution to mankind in having a robot doing experiments for us on MARS, which might one day open up new exciting horizons. Expecting the unexpected will sometimes prove to be a nice factor be a design criterion while designing something which is to work in unseen and unknown environments. I feel, such a problem could have been anticipated prior to its design. Still, great going guys. Keep up the great work. I cant wait to see other robotic missions to other planets and moons (especially titan). All the very best. :)