| 21-August-2009 |
Second Test Rover Added to Driving Experiments |
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A second, lighter-weight test rover has entered the testing setup at JPL where rover team members are assessing strategy for getting Spirit out of soft soil where it is embedded on Mars.
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| 13-August-2009 |
Planned Rover Test to Run a Week or More |
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Mars rover team members are planning a long-duration experiment with the test rover at JPL beginning next week.
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| 07-August-2009 |
More Testing Before Driving on Mars |
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A review on Aug. 6 of test results to date yielded a decision to conduct further checkouts in an augmented testing set-up on Earth before beginning to send driving commands to Spirit for attempting to get out of the loose soil where the rover has partially embedded itself.
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| 31-July-2009 |
Possible Meteorite Imaged by Opportunity Rover |
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The Opportunity rover has eyed an odd-shaped, dark rock, about 0.6 meters (2 feet) across on the surface of Mars, which may be a meteorite.
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| 30-July-2009 |
Free Spirit Testing Nearing Completion |
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Mars rover engineers at JPL are winding down testing of different escape maneuvers using a test rover in a sand box filled with soil to mimic the Martian surface. It is possible that in early August the first extraction attempts with Spirit rover, which is dug-in on Mars, might take place.
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| 24-July-2009 |
Longer Tests Beginning |
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Mars rover team members have begun a new phase of testing at JPL -- using longer-duration experiments -- in their preparations for driving Spirit again on Mars.
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| 21-July-2009 |
Next Step: Combinations of Basic Moves |
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As the Mars rover team uses testing at JPL to evaluate possible ways to drive Spirit out of loose soil on Mars, the team is finishing tests of individual "building block" maneuvers and is about to begin stringing some of those together.
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| 16-July-2009 |
Test Rover Checks Pivoting Technique |
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The Mars rover team is using a test rover at JPL to assess various extraction techniques that might get Spirit out of the loose soil of "Troy" on Mars.
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| 14-July-2009 |
Mars Dust Devil Has Colorful Effect in Image Series |
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Scientists have combined a trio of shots taken seconds apart through different colored filters to create a special-effects portrait of a moving dust devil on Mars.
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| 13-July-2009 |
Rover Engineers Test More Maneuvers |
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Engineers checking possible rover movements to get Spirit out of the "Troy" sand trap on Mars are evaluating how a comparable rover at JPL fares in a crablike backward drive, with all four corner wheels turned 60 degrees toward the right.
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| 10-July-2009 |
Tests Evaluating Crabwalk Moves |
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On firm ground, NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers can make crablike moves by turning all four steerable wheels to the same side angle, then rotating the wheels either forward or backward.
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| 08-July-2009 |
Second Rover Test Maneuver is Backwards |
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Engineers used straight-backward driving of a test rover on Earth on Wednesday, July 8, as they evaluate maneuvers that might be useful for getting Spirit out of a sandtrap on Mars.
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| 06-July-2009 |
Rover Extraction Tests Begin |
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Using a test rover in a sandbox at JPL with special soil simulating Spirit's predicament on Mars, engineers are assessing possible maneuvers for getting Spirit out and onto firmer ground.
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| 01-July-2009 |
Rock Under the Belly |
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Engineers placed a rock underneath the test rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., on July 1, 2009, to more closely simulate Spirit's predicament on Mars.
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| 30-June-2009 |
Test Rover Rolls In |
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After several days of preparing a sloped area of soft, fine soil to simulate Spirit's current sandtrap on Mars, the rover team drove a test rover into the material on June 30, 2009.
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| 26-June-2009 |
The Mixing Begins |
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Rover team members mix materials to fill the testbed box. Once filled, the rover will be driven into the test area and set in place to mimic how the actual rover sits on Mars.
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| 25-June-2009 |
Mars Team Digs in To Free Spirit |
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Mars team members have rolled up their sleeves and will be shaping a few tons of diatomaceous Earth and clay into an exact replica of the area where the Spirit rover is embedded on Mars.
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| 29-April-2009 |
Hello, Earth! Hello, Mars! |
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Opportunity has seen many sights during her nearly 2000 sols on Mars, but recently came face-to-face (or wheel-to-rock) with the youngest crater ever seen by either Mars Exploration Rover!
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| 15-April-2009 |
Martian Dust Storm near South Polar Cap |
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This nearly global mosaic of observations made by the Mars Color Imager on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on April 2, 2009, shows billowing clouds of dust being lifted into the atmosphere by a storm near the edge of the seasonal polar cap of southern Mars.
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