Mars Rovers Power On

Those long-lived NASA Mars rovers—Spirit and Opportunity—remain in fairly good shape, with one robot in survival mode as martian winter arrives while its twin snakes its way across a taxing terrain of sand dunes to reach a striking target.

“Both rovers are doing really well right now,” said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, lead scientists for the Mars Rover Exploration project. “We had a bit of a scare with Spirit awhile back, losing use of the right front wheel less than a hundred meters shy of our intended wintering spot on McCool Hill,” he told SPACE.com.

Squyres said the wheel breakdown came at a time when the terrain was treacherous, a site of soft sand and salt deposits. “That kind of stuff is hard enough to drive in with six wheels, and with five it was just about impossible. It was really frustrating, being that close to the place we wanted to get to … and not being able to reach it.”

Thanks to the tenacity of rover drivers back on Earth, Spirit was unstuck, then backtracked onto more solid ground—dragging its no longer working wheel. An alternate winter-over spot for the rover was picked on “Low Ridge”—named after George Low, the late NASA Deputy Administrator who played a key role in the Apollo lunar landing effort.

You can read the entire Leonard David story on SPACE.com.