14 DAY TRIAL // After becoming stuck in the loose Martian soil of the Troy region, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit has recently taken its first pictures of its underside, in a move that has been simulated back on Earth, and with its twin robot Opportunity as well. At this point, researchers have no clue as to how the sand in which the machine is trapped up to its hubcaps looks like, and so they want to get as much information on it as possible before ordering the tough but little robot to attempt to break free.
“Spirit is in a very difficult situation. We are proceeding methodically and cautiously. It may be weeks before we try moving Spirit again. Meanwhile, we are using Spirit’s scientific instruments to learn more about the physical properties of the soil that is giving us trouble. The improved power situation buys us time. We will use that time to plan the next steps carefully. We know that dust storms could return at any time, although the skies are currently clear,” JPL expert John Callas, the project manager for the MER mission, said last month, when the rover first got stuck.
For now, controllers have deemed it best to stop any attempts at moving the rover, and have moved to observing the properties of the terrain around it. As sufficient data are collected, engineers will set up driving simulations at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California. The facility owns a rover that is identical to both Spirit and Opportunity. Once all pieces of information are gathered, a simulation crew will reenact them in a test tank and assess further possibilities from there. In addition, mission controllers for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have relayed back images of the area in which Spirit is trapped.
Opportunity, currently located on the other side of the planet, was also instructed to start maneuvering its robotic arm around, and to test if pictures of its underside can be successfully taken. When it became clear that it was doable, the controllers ordered Spirit to do the same, and they assigned the task to the microscopic image camera, located at the tip of the rover's extensible robotic arm. The panorama the experts obtained in this fashion is not exactly the best in the world, but it will have to do. The microscopic camera works best when its targets are just centimeters in front of its objective; it doesn't have such a good resolution over tens of centimeters.