After Earth-Based Sandbox Tests, NASA Trying One More Time to Get Spirit Rover Unstuck
The Mars rover has been helplessly mired in sand since April, but lately it's been able to wiggle a little Fans of the intrepid Mars rovers got some bittersweet news today. The good news: Starting Monday, NASA will try to drive the Spirit rover out of a sandy spot where it has been mired since April. The bad: It will not be easy, and in announcing their plans today, NASA scientists sounded like they were preparing to say goodbye. "Unfortunately, Spirit may have met its match in this one," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA headquarters in Washington. After the rover got stuck in sand last spring, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory built a giant slanting sandbox, trying to simulate Spirit's predicament to determine how to free it. The rover is stuck in a soft, light-colored substance that McCuistion compared to talcum powder. Making matters worse is a rock outcropping...