Spirit Digs in its Wheels

The Spirit Rover on Mars is really digging itself into the surface these days. And I mean in a worrisome way.  It’s five working wheels are slipping severely in the very soft soil it now finds itself on and the wheels are dug in about halfway.  Or, think of it as being stuck up to the mudflaps. The situation is bad enough that the handlers and scientists have stopped trying to drive the rover around until they can figure out a safe way to keep things moving.

However, that doesn’t mean the science has stopped. The soft plushy soil that is dragging Spirit down gives scientists a great opportunity to learn more about the physical characteristics of that soil. They’ll focus the attention of some of the instruments onboard the Rover to the task. Luckily, the Martian winds have been scouring Spirit’s solar panels clean, so it can generate more power for the instruments.

While Spirit is doing soil testing and analysis, the scientists and engineers will do some testing of their own at JPL. Simulation tests with the Earth-bound rover counterpart will show them how and when they will be able extricate Spirit from its Martian sandbox to resume its journey across Gusev Crater.