Getting Unstuck in West Valley Options

[ElkGroveDan]

"Hey, turn your head ..."

Paolo needs to examine your WEB for damage. Turn your head and cough.

[JayB]

nothing really new but wired.com has a nice photo essay on Free Spirit

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/...overmars_rover/

[brellis]

Great essay, it really helps visualize the predicament occuring so far away. *fingers crossed* - go drivers!

[serpens]

Image guru Hortonheardawho noted this peculiar item near Spirit. Almost certainly from the Rover but what is it? Could be worth an MI.

[SpaceListener]

Where is the source of the above image?

[fredk]

Here's the original context image:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all...E5P2386L2M1.JPG

It looks to me like the surface has been scraped, revealing a brighter layer (rock surface?) underneath, rather than that the "squiggle" is an object sitting on the surface. It may be that the adjacent rock was moved when the wheel drove by, and scratched the surface.

If you look just below and to the right of the "squiggle", you can see a similar "scrape" feature along the edge of the wheel cut. That feature is also bright in IR and dark in blue, relative to the rest of the ground.

(If you're watching, good catch, Horton!)

[craigmcg]

Been following the spirit saga somewhat closely, but I haven't seen any mention of what will the plan be if she is declared "stuck." Will the ops team be scaled back, resources moved to Oppy, etc? I realize that it will probably be some time before this would happen...

My take on all the coverage so far is that either they are being very cautious or they really don't think there is much chance of getting unstuck. I've not seen any mention of a scenario that has succeeded in the test bed.

[SpaceListener]

It looks to me like the surface has been scraped, revealing a brighter layer (rock surface?) underneath, rather than that the "squiggle" is an object sitting on the surface. It may be that the adjacent rock was moved when the wheel drove by, and scratched the surface.

The surface is covered by dust and around of the squiggle made by a near stone has no wheels marks of rover. That makes me to doubt about your hypothesis.

If you look just below and to the right of the "squiggle", you can see a similar "scrape" feature along the edge of the wheel cut. That feature is also bright in IR and dark in blue, relative to the rest of the ground.

The moved stone has no explanation for me since it was dragged leaving a maybe more than 10 cms mark. The drag force for that kind of mark is made from something which is pushed it or also by a strong wind like to many moved stone close to Phoenix landing.

On the other hand, I tried to visualize if by that analysis zone was marked by rover wheel but I was not able to see it.

[SpaceListener]

My take on all the coverage so far is that either they are being very cautious or they really don't think there is much chance of getting unstuck. I've not seen any mention of a scenario that has succeeded in the test bed.

I think that the previous tests are not totally worth since the testbed surface context was fully homogenized. Hence, they want to validate by testing again according to a more realistic surface as it is happening to Spirit in Mars, two right wheels (RF, & RM) on firmer surface and the rest of wheels on a loose sand.

[stevesliva]

My take on all the coverage so far is that either they are being very cautious or they really don't think there is much chance of getting unstuck. I've not seen any mention of a scenario that has succeeded in the test bed.

IIRC, there was a direct quote from one of the team that they expect to get out. They're just being very deliberate. And if you look closely at the photos in the Wired spread above, you'll notice that they were able to move quite a few inches backwards in at least one test. Moving that distance in total homogenous quicksand is pretty encouraging.

There was also an indication that they can reasonably expect to survive winter at the present position with the present power levels, so with regards to what it would do if it's stuck... a lot more of what it's doing now.

[centsworth_II]

Been following the spirit saga somewhat closely, but I haven't seen any mention of what will the plan be if she is declared "stuck...."

John Callas, rover project manager at JPL, was asked about this during the recent Ustream presentation, "Free Spirit." He said if permanently stuck, Spirit would become a stationary lander and could have a useful life of at least a Martian year observing weather and surface changes, and studying the structure and composition of its surroundings in detail.

[djellison]

We've already got, I think, a little bit of that bright feature in one MI image. I'll try and tie it together tonight. It's very bright.

[Astro0]

A couple of additional images for fun

[djellison]

My take on all the coverage so far is that either they are being very cautious or they really don't think there is much chance of getting unstuck. I've not seen any mention of a scenario that has succeeded in the test bed.

"We are seeing motion, and it is promising. But from what we see on Earth, we still believe it is going to take a while once we start the extraction process on Mars" - that's Sharon Laubach quoted at the MSNBC Cosmic Log.

[fredk]

From the latest Free Spirit update, of all places:

Meanwhile, observations from the Mars Climate Sounder instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate to scientists that a large regional storm is developing. Right now the dust storm is not near Spirit or its twin, Opportunity, but scientists will continue to monitor it as it develops. Since Mars is still in the dust storm season, it is possible (and perhaps even probable) that the storm will continue to grow over the next few days.