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Free Spirit: Second Extrication Drive Yields Slight Progress
After spinning the wheels for the equivalent of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) in the forward direction, the center of the rover moved approximately 12 millimeters (0.5 inch) forward, 7 millimeters (0.3 inch) to the left and about 4 millimeters (0.2 inch) down.
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Free Spirit: Second Planned Extrication Drive is Straight Ahead Again
Because the first extrication drive for Spirit, on Sol 2088 (Nov. 17), stopped as soon as it began due to an exceeded tilt limit, the plan for an extrication drive on Sol 2090 (Nov. 19) will essentially be a repeat of the first drive plan, but with improved rover attitude knowledge.
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Free Spirit: Tilt Parameters End First Extrication Drive
The preliminary results from the first extrication drive for Spirit on Sol 2088 (Nov. 17, 2009) indicate the rover stopped less than 1 second after it began, sensing more vehicle lateral tilt than permitted.
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NASA to Begin Attempts to Free Sand-Trapped Mars Rover
NASA will begin transmitting commands to its Mars exploration rover Spirit on Monday as part of an escape plan to free the venerable robot from its Martian sand trap.
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Free Spirit: Tests Prepare to Extract Rover
Engineers using test rovers on Earth to prepare for extracting the sand-trapped Spirit rover on Mars have added a new challenge to their preparations.
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Free Spirit: Computer Modeling and Dusty Testing
Tests on Earth simulating Spirit's predicament on Mars have reinforced understanding that getting Spirit to rove again will be very difficult.
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Free Spirit: Dust Storm Passing Over Spirit
The amount of electricity generated by the solar panels on Spirit has been declining for the past several Martian days, or sols, as a regional dust storm moved southward and blocked some of the sunshine at Spirit's location.
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Free Spirit: Second Test Rover Added to Driving Experiments
A second, lighter-weight test rover has entered the testing setup at JPL where rover team members are assessing strategy for getting Spirit out of soft soil where it is embedded on Mars.
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Spirit Hits 2,000
Today marks the 2,000th Martian day, or sol, of what was initially planned as a 90-sol mission on Mars for NASA's Spirit rover.
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Free Spirit: Planned Rover Test to Run a Week or More
Mars rover team members are planning a long-duration experiment with the test rover at JPL beginning next week.
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Mars Meteorite Yields Clues About Planet's Past
NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is investigating a metallic meteorite the size of a large watermelon that is providing researchers more details about the Red Planet's environmental history.
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Free Spirit: More Testing Before Driving on Mars
A review on Aug. 6 of test results to date yielded a decision to conduct further checkouts in an augmented testing set-up on Earth.
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Possible Meteorite Imaged by Opportunity Rover
The Opportunity rover has eyed an odd-shaped, dark rock, about 0.6 meters (2 feet) across on the surface of Mars, which may be a meteorite.
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Free Spirit Testing Nearing Completion
Mars rover engineers at JPL are winding down testing of different escape maneuvers using a test rover in a sand box filled with soil to mimic the Martian surface.
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Longer Tests Beginning
Mars rover team members have begun a new phase of testing at JPL -- using longer-duration experiments -- in their preparations for driving Spirit again on Mars.
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Next Step: Combinations of Basic Moves
As the Mars rover team uses testing at JPL to evaluate possible ways to drive Spirit out of loose soil on Mars, the team is finishing tests of individual "building block" maneuvers and is about to begin stringing some of those together.
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Tests on Earth Help Rover on Mars: Live Webcast, Chat
A live videocast and chat from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., will give viewers a chance to ask questions of rover team members working to get Spirit rolling again.
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Free Spirit: Test Rover Checks Pivoting Technique
The Mars rover team is using a test rover at JPL to assess various extraction techniques that might get Spirit out of the loose soil of "Troy" on Mars.
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Mars Dust Devil Has Colorful Effect in Image Series
Scientists have combined a trio of shots taken seconds apart through different colored filters to create a special-effects portrait of a moving dust devil on Mars.
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Free Spirit: Rover Engineers Test More Maneuvers
Engineers checking possible rover movements to get Spirit out of the "Troy" sand trap on Mars are evaluating how a comparable rover at JPL fares in a crablike backward drive, with all four corner wheels turned 60 degrees toward the right.