[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Stuck in Loose Soil

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 18:29:15 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200905110129.SAA03729_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_12329089

Mars rover stuck in loose soil
By Alfred Lee
Pasadena Star News
May 8, 2009

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE - After five years of scurrying around hostile
terrain and toughing out six-month Martian winters, the Mars Rover
Spirit faces a new problem familiar to Earthlings: It's stuck in loose
soil.

Spirit ran aground of some "fluffy" material on May 1, Jet Propulsion
Laboratory officials said Friday. To make matters worse, a small mound
of rocks underneath threatens to throw the intrepid robot off balance.

"This is a really big concern. We've never been in a situation like this
when we've been at risk of high centering the rover," project manager
John Callas said. "There is a real danger of it getting permanently stuck."

Since getting stuck, Spirit has only managed to move "tens of
centimeters," Callas said. Its wheels are now buried up to the hubcaps.

Things have gotten so hairy that on Thursday, mission planners decided
to stop trying to move Spirit altogether.

"We're going to use the rover's instruments to try to characterize the
soil to get a better understanding of what it is," Callas said.
"Simultaneously on the ground, we're going to try to simulate some of
those materials in a kind of Martian sandbox where we have a full scale
engineering rover."

Mission planners will test out possible movements in the JPL "sandbox,"
which is about 30 feet by 30 feet, Callas said. JPL scientists are
"probably weeks away" from attempting to move the rover again.

Spirit's counterpart, Opportunity, is generally doing better, save for a
problem with one of its wheels, Callas said.

"The concern for Opportunity on the other side of the planet is the
right front wheel, which has shown problems of drawing more current than
the other wheels," he said. Engineers have responded to what they
believe is a lubrication problem by periodically resting the rover.

In 2005, Opportunity inadvertently dug itself into a sand dune and was
stuck there for more than a month before being maneuvered out.

Both rovers have remained operating much longer than anticipated. The
rovers landed in Mars in January 2004, and were only expected to last 90
days.
Received on Sun 10 May 2009 09:29:15 PM PDT