NASA readies ‘sandbox’ to plot Mars rover’s escape
NASA plans to fill a 'sandbox' with simulated Martian soil this week to test escape maneuvers for the Mars rover Spirit, which has been stuck in a sand trap called "Troy" since early May.
When the rover first became stuck, its wheels slipped so much in the fine, flour-like soil that Spirit moved just centimeters despite the fact that its wheels had rotated enough to move it about 10 metres away. Mission managers then stopped trying to drive the rover, whose wheels had already become buried halfway into the loose soil.