NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit completed a difficult, rocky ascent
en route to reaching a captivating rock outcrop nicknamed "Hillary" at the
summit of "Husband Hill." At the end of the climb the robotic geologist
was tilted almost 30 degrees. To get the rover on more solid footing for
deploying the instrument arm, rover drivers told Spirit to wiggle its
wheels one at a time. This animation shows Spirit's position before and
after completing the wheel wiggle, during which the rover slid
approximately 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) downhill. Rover drivers decided
this position was too hazardous for deploying the instrument arm and
subsequently directed Spirit to a more stable position before conducting
analyses with instruments on the rover's arm.
Spirit took these images with its front hazard-avoidance camera on martian
day, or sol, 625 (Oct. 6, 2005).
