Do rovers need a specific trenching tool?, Dead wheel works, but designed scoop would be better Options

[Floyd]

The stuck wheel has been key to most of Spirit's most important discoveries. Should future rover designs include a scoop which can be dragged behind the rover to turn over the soil? It could be on an arm with just one motor/degree of freedom--up or down. The scoop/plow could be on a flexible arm so if it snagged a rock, it would deflect away. Since everything on mars is covered with a layer of dust, you need something to continuously trench to find sulfates, silica or the next unexpected thing. The arm could be very light if you had a little scoop/rake at the end of a flexible fiberglass pole. Maybe you could add some type of simple sensor to the scoop to determine the crude spectral properties of the freshly exposed soil. Lots of possibilities.

What do you think--is a scoop/plow/rake a worthwhile rover tool? What is your design?

[SpaceListener]

My philosophy is that an "Space hand" is of vital importance in order to increase the survival of spacecraft as the main objective and also taking the advantage of its own characteristics.

Let us suppose about the problem of Spirit, the arm would assist to improve the motion. For Opportunity, the arm would help it to go closer to rocks and lower to bottom of Victoria and also to climb on sandy surface. Overcome any accident such as one with more than one month sand stuck to Opportunity. Anyway, this arm would help both rovers to improve the science by snagging any interesting stone, rock, dig the surface, etc.

You can see this example with the Shuttle's own long and powerful arm that help to improve the security and survival of spacecraft.

However, I think that this facility, will lead a much increase the budget to the program since the engineering to build an intelligent arm is very expensive as I know about the Shuttle's arm. Sophisticated software, very light material and strong, more video camera, incorporated laser for measuring the distance, etc., etc.

Finally, it would be a one of the top wishlist for MSL since it can supply electrical power with more prediction. At this point, I cannot further comment about the trade between benefit and costs by incorporating an intelligent arm to MSL project. However, for the philosophy of survival, it must be a "yes" or "yes" choice.