14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory announce that the latest drive by the Martian rover Spirit has ended with little to no conclusive results. This is the first drive to be attempted after a couple of weeks of testings, in which the robot's wheels came under scrutiny. Mission planners are very disappointed by the new results, because the winter on the Red Planet is not very far away, and the rover's current position is not the best one to endure through the freezing temperatures.
“Spirit's drive on Sol 2120 (December 19, 2009) included commands for using all six wheels. However, the right-front wheel rotated less than 2 degrees and the right-rear wheel did not rotate at all. The other four wheels completed enough rotations to drive about 10 meters (33 feet), but produced no measurable forward motion by the rover. The rover team plans to command further driving this week while continuing to assess the possibility of getting more motion from the right-front wheel,” the team announced in a press release.
The experts were expecting this. MER mission manager John Callas said ever since options to free Spirit were being assessed in a JPL sandbox that the extrication process could take months to perform. There is also a very real chance that Spirit will not be able to get out of the patch of loose sand it's currently embedded in. The Martian feature has been named Troy, and has been preventing Spirit from reaching the Home Plate, its destination for this winter, for more than six months.
On the bright side of things, JPL experts say that hope lies in the most unlikely places. One of the biggest problems the rover Spirit had to deal with since 2006 was the fact that it could no longer use its front-right wheel. “Diagnostic tests were run on Spirit's right-rear wheel and right-front wheel on Sol 2013 (December 12). […] The right-front wheel, which stopped operating on Sol 779 (March 13, 2006), surprised engineers by indicating normal resistance and turning slightly during a resistance test for that wheel,” the team added a few days ago.
Though the last drive showed very little signs of activity in this wheel, experts are convinced that it could be used to extricate the rover from Troy. It remains to be seen what steps the JPL team will take next. Keep an eye on this space for more details.