[X] My Assistant

[fredk]

We may have the same scenery for quite a while. From the latest release:

The rover team... has suspended driving Spirit temporarily while studying the ground around the rover and planning simulation tests of driving options with a test rover... "Spirit is in a very difficult situation," JPL's John Callas... said Monday. "We are proceeding methodically and cautiously. It may be weeks before we try moving Spirit again."

In the past week, the digging-in of Spirit's wheels has raised concerns that the rover's belly pan could now be low enough to contact rocks underneath the chassis, which would make getting out of the situation more difficult.

[nprev]

Hmm. Amplifying on your COG shift idea, Maycm, what else on the MERs can still articulate? I don't know if the HGA can provide any significant mass offset. Can the Pancam mast still retract/extend? (I sincerely doubt it, but have to ask.)

EDIT: BTW, ElkGroveDan first posted the idea of using the IDD here. Suggest that everybody read (and re-read!) this entire thread as a brainstorming aid.

[SpaceListener]

Hmm. Amplifying on your COG shift idea, Maycm, what else on the MERs can still articulate? I don't know if the HGA can provide any significant mass offset. Can the Pancam mast still retract/extend? (I sincerely doubt it, but have to ask.)

My best guest, analogy, the Pancam/Navcam mast cannot be stowed as the wheels. It is fixed after it is unstowed.

The question that I have is about the properties of soil around Spirit. How can be a big difference of firmness of soil between left (west) and right (east) side of Spirit. The channel which Spirit is traveling was maybe a river where the water from higher lands were flowing toward the South. The soil of the channel, specially on the left side, close to the hills Tsiolkovsky would have a regolith of silica sand (reacted by the treatment of water) would lose the firmness faster if it is cracked by the wheel action.

One of the last hope is that below of regolith (10, 20, 30, ? cms) might be a bedrock in which the rover's wheel will gain the traction again after sinking the wheels after a long rolling. Yes, I believe it since I don't think that the soil would be loose after the regolith (a zone where the land have already undergone any kind chemical process, any ashes, sand deposition) For that, the only way is to use the turret to find out about how deep is the regolith? I doubt it but it is worth to ask it anyway.

The Freddy idea of using the IDD as an mirror is a genial ones.