Why do you think they are halfway out? With slippage increasing and one rear wheel rising further off the ground, I would be more inclined to think that they are digging in and will be taking a different approach when they resume. As a person who has stayed at a Holiday Inn (and most of you around the globe won't get the joke), I would be driving forward so at least I have the gravity based vector working for me, instead of against me.

Brian

I think that the best way to get out of the trap is by trying to go back on the same forward track as Oppy got out in the past time. It is matter of the patience, Initially, the sleepage will be high but after some attempts, its will reduce whenever the Oppy 's back get on the firm stone surface.

Hence, keep with patience and persistence!

The last drive before the idd stall was actually making significant progress out of this little sticking point. The rhaz subframes tracking progress are fairly reminiscent of the last 2 or 3 days before we got out of purgatory ripple. Going forward would be bad. We have the swathes of mobility data from driving into this mess which can help design the driving strategy to get back out again.

I just got that heart-stopping headline I hate to see in my inbox, "Mars Exploration Rover Status Report," which always indicates bad news. But the news is at least partially good: there seems to be more serious trouble with the shoulder motor, but they aren't giving any indications that the wheels are stuck. They just aren't moving an inch until they diagnose the arm problems.

More here.

--Emily

It is unfortunate that the shoulder motor has stalled more than ever, but at least the motor "barely" unstowed (destowed?) the arm before demanding extra attention. I note also that Callas said they were holding off on "backing out" of the sand.. hopefully they still find a way to the craterside.

Keep on truckin'

Could someone come up with a nice picture, instead of 1000 words, that shows the current stuck position of the arm, what the arm can't do if they can't get this motor going again, and what motions it would still be capable of?

Thanks
Brian

Also some new details on the drive attempts in the latest update.

I have the feeling that we're in this spot for a while
I'd said that we'd better open up a new topic instead of keeping posting in "To the Cape"

And additional worries regarding the arm...
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer-20080423.html

So - worst case. The shoulder joint is dead - all that's left is the elbow joint. That means all they could do is touch whatever is directly under its current location. It could work - but it'd be hard for targetting.

Doug

Did you mean that as a statement or a supposition? We don't yet have official word that the joint is dead.

As I said - that's the worst case based on what we know.

Doug

Reading between the lines in the press release, I get the impression that they don't expect the shoulder joint to move again. It had only one winding left in the motor, and I guess that has given away now.

I'm surprised that the IDD can still be somewhat used even without the shoulder joint. If the working space is limited only right in front and below the rover, it will be very challenging though. Especially with the wall of Cape Verde right in front, it is hugely disappointing if the final winding has given up especially at this moment. I don't think there is a way to place the IDD on the vertical wall now :-(.

They will take their good time testing the motor, but after that driving will be another challenge. Since the arm is not in a stowed position, it or the IDD might be further damaged if it happens to move around when the rover attempts a drive. This is made even further difficult by the quackmire position that Oppy is in!

So the future looks very difficult! All that said, I hope the best for the rover and the team.

Bad but not hugely surprising news... she's been through it, our gal, and time has to start taking its toll eventually.

Anyway, a few questions spring to mind... How will this affect the decision on where to send Oppy next? Will having an out of action arm mean she's less or more likely to exit the crater and go scouting for cobbles? After all, if she can't touch the rock of Verde will that mean it's now a less attractive target than Elsewhere? As for those cobbles, I got the impression that studying their composition was their big "sell"; without a working arm would Oppy actually be able to do much with them?

Will this glitch mean Oppy will now become basically a roving photographer, rather than a roving geologist?

Discuss.

What I most looked forward to was a close-up hi-res pancam pararama of the wall of Cape Verde. That
is not affected by the arm trouble. As far as chemistry goes, did they ecpect to see anything that is not
present in the layers of Duck Bay already explored?