Dec 06 2009
Sandtrapped Mars Rover Makes Big Discovery
While stuck in a sandtrap, Mars rover Spirit has made a discovery one researcher calls "supremely interesting."
December 2, 2009: Homer’s Iliad tells the story of Troy, a city besieged by the Greeks in the Trojan War. Today, a lone robot sits besieged in the sands of Troy while engineers and scientists plot its escape.
Left: Spirit surveys its own predicament. The bright soil pictured left is loose, fluffy material churned by the rover’s left-front wheel as Spirit, driving backwards, broke through a darker, crusty surface. At right is the least-embedded of the rover’s six wheels.
Welcome to “Troy” – Mars style. NASA’s robotic rover Spirit is bogged down on the Red Planet in a place the rover team named after the ancient city.
So why aren’t scientists lamenting? [...]
Source: Nasa Science – click here for full article
