PIA12099: Preparing a Test Mixture
Rover team members Kim Lichtenberg (left) and Mike Seibert fill a mixer with powdered clay and diatomaceous earth, a combination found to offer physical properties similar to the soil where NASA's rover Spirit is embedded on Mars.
Mission: Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
Spacecraft: Spirit
Product Size: 1856 samples x 1371 lines
Produced By: JPL
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Original Caption Released with Image:

Rover team members Kim Lichtenberg (left) and Mike Seibert fill a mixer with powdered clay and diatomaceous earth, a combination found to offer physical properties similar to the soil where NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is embedded on Mars. The team finished mixing the test soil and preparing a sloped testing area on June 29, 2009, with plans for driving the test rover into it on June 30.

To see updates on the efforts to free the Spirit rover, visit the JPL Free Spirit website.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2009-06-30