Browse Archive

  • Rover team members prepare an experiment for assessing how a test rover moves when embedded in loose soil and commanded to drive backward with wheels turned.

    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.

  • Mars Exploration Rover team members prepare a testing setup for the Spirit rover.

    Free Spirit: Tests Evaluating Crabwalk Moves

    On firm ground, NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers can make crablike moves by turning all four steerable wheels to the same side angle, then rotating the wheels either forward or backward.

  • Engineers check the exact position of a test rover in preparation for the next test of a possible maneuver for Spirit to use on Mars.

    Free Spirit: Second Rover Test Maneuver is Backwards

    Engineers used straight-backward driving of a test rover on Earth on Wednesday, July 8, as they evaluate maneuvers that might be useful for getting Spirit out of a sandtrap on Mars.

  • Rover driver Paolo Bellutta measures how much the rover moved sideways, downslope, during the maneuver.

    Free Spirit: Rover Extraction Tests Begin

    Using a test rover in a sandbox at JPL with special soil simulating Spirit's predicament on Mars, engineers are assessing possible maneuvers for getting Spirit out and onto firmer ground.

  • Sandbox setup to test and assess possible moves for getting Mars rover Spirit out of a patch of loose Martian soil.

    Free Spirit: Rock Under the Belly

    Engineers placed a rock underneath the test rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., on July 1, 2009, to more closely simulate Spirit's predicament on Mars.

  • a test rover rolls off a plywood surface into a prepared bed of soft soil

    Free Spirit: Test Rover Rolls In

    After several days of preparing a sloped area of soft, fine soil to simulate Spirit's current sandtrap on Mars, the rover team drove a test rover into the material on June 30, 2009.

  • soft soil exposed when wheels of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit dug into a patch of ground

    Mars Rover Yielding New Clues While Lodged in Soil

    NASA's Mars rover Spirit, lodged in Martian soil that is causing traction trouble, is taking advantage of the situation by learning more about the Red Planet's environmental history.

  • Artist's concept of the Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity

    Opportunity Rolls Past the 10-Mile Mark

    In a giant leap for Roverkind, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's odometer clocked past the 10-mile mark (16,133.96 meters) on May 25 (Sol 1897).

  • full-circle view of the rover's surroundings

    Mars Rover Sees Variable Environment at Crater

    One of NASA's two Mars rovers has recorded a compelling saga of environmental changes that occurred over billions of years at a Martian crater.

  • Spirit's Wheels Digging into Soft Ground

    Mars and Earth Activities to Get Spirit Rolling Again

    NASA's rover project team is using Spirit and other spacecraft at Mars to begin developing the best maneuvers for extracting Spirit from the soft Martian ground where it has become embedded.

  • Spirit's Wheels Digging into Soft Ground

    Soft Ground Endangers Spirit Despite Gain in Energy

    The five wheels that still rotate on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit have been slipping severely in soft soil during recent attempts to drive, sinking the wheels about halfway into the ground.

  • Martian Dust Storm near South Polar Cap

    Mars Spacecraft Teams on Alert for Dust-Storm Season

    Heading into a period of the Martian year prone to major dust storms, the team operating NASA's twin Mars rovers is taking advantage of eye-in-the-sky weather reports.

  • Image of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit

    Team Analyzes Spirit Amnesia Events

    After NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit had a bout of temporary amnesia on Friday, April 17 it rebooted its computer.

  • Spirit saw this view of its surroundings in late March.

    Spirit Healthy But Computer Reboots Raise Concerns

    The team operating Spirit is examining data received from the rover to diagnose why the rover apparently rebooted its computer at least twice over the April 11-12 weekend.

  • North Rim of Endeavour Crater

    One Mars Rover Sees Distant Goal; One Takes New Route

    On a plain that stretches for miles in every direction, the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars rover Opportunity has caught a first glimpse on the horizon of the uplifted rim of the big crater that has been Opportunity's long-term destination for six months.

  • Spirit Begins Drive Around Home Plate

    NASA's Mars Rover Spirit Faces Circuitous Route

    Loose soil piled against the northern edge of a low plateau has blocked Spirit from taking the shortest route toward its southward destinations for the upcoming Martian summer and following winter.

  • evidence that some dust blown off solar panels

    Spirit Gets Energy Boost from Cleaner Solar Panels

    A small but important uptick in electrical output from the solar panels on Spirit this month indicates a beneficial Martian wind has blown away some of the dust that has accumulated on the panels.

  • Spirit's view on Mars

    Spirit Resumes Driving

    Spirit resumed driving Saturday after engineers gained confidence from diagnostic activities earlier in the week evaluating how well the rover senses its orientation.

  • artist concept of Mars Exploration Rover

    Mars Rover Team Diagnosing Unexpected Behavior

    Diagnostic activities performed by Spirit on Thursday, Jan. 29 narrowed the range of factors that may have contributed to its unexpected behavior earlier in the week.

  • Opportunity's view of Victoria Crater

    Public Events Mark Mars Rovers' Five-Year Anniversary

    Public events during the next two weeks will share the adventures of the still-active NASA Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.