Spirit rover's wheels stuck in soft Martian dirt

(PhysOrg.com) -- 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.

Scientists work to free Mars rover Spirit

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the past several weeks, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory finished experimentation on methods to get the rover Spirit unstuck from its location near a plateau called Home Plate.

Mars Rover driving leaves distinctive tracks

(PhysOrg.com) -- When NASA's Opportunity Mars rover uses an onboard navigation capability during backward drives, it leaves a distinctive pattern in the wheel tracks visible on the Martian ground.

Spirit Gets Energy Boost from Cleaner Solar Panels

(PhysOrg.com) -- A small but important uptick in electrical output from the solar panels on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit this month indicates a beneficial Martian wind has blown away some of the dust that has accumulated ...

Six things to know about NASA's Opportunity Mars rover

After 15 years, the mission of NASA's Opportunity rover has come to an end, but its successes on Mars have earned it a spot in the robot hall of fame. Here's what you need to know about our intrepid Martian overachiever:

Are dust devils whirling around the Curiosity rover?

In this latest update from the MSL team, Ashwin Vasavada, the Deputy Project Scientist, explains how Curiosity has been monitoring the winds and radiation levels in Gale Crater. Curiosity has also been looking for dust devils—the ...

Mars Rover Team Diagnosing Unexpected Behavior

(PhysOrg.com) -- The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit plans diagnostic tests this week after Spirit did not report some of its weekend activities, including a request to determine its orientation after ...

Mars and Earth Activities Aim to Get Spirit Rolling Again

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

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