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31 Comments
- gordoncam1, on 06/01/2009, -1/+165+ years with no maintenance in that environment! A job well done, NASA. Thanks for the stunning images.
- Rothgarr, on 06/01/2009, -0/+13I wonder if it can use its arms to grab and place surrounding rocks under its own wheels for leverage. Sort of like putting rocks under car tires in snow.
- circuitblood, on 06/01/2009, -1/+11Pretty much unbelievable that we are looking into another planet's environment.. It just shows that nothing's impossible.
- Mawds, on 06/01/2009, -1/+11Maybe a friendly Martian will come along and help it out.
- Defiant001, on 06/01/2009, -0/+9I hope they figure out how to get it unstuck! I assume the little rover has a lot of life (battery power or whatever it uses) left in it to explore around some more, would be a shame if they had to abandon it where it is over this.
- vsaint, on 06/01/2009, -1/+10The next robot we send needs a grappling hook.
- Vibratic, on 06/01/2009, -1/+10I was just thinking that when I clicked on the picture of the other robot trekking across Mars, linked below. That sky, that dust, it doesn't exist on Earth. That's a whole other planet out there, and it's not too different from ours. Absolutely incredible.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061017.html - jrm125, on 06/01/2009, -1/+8NASA: The NEW quality American automaker?
- RealmDown, on 06/01/2009, -1/+7It's a pity grandad didn't use a shotgun instead of a bat.
- Jektal, on 06/01/2009, -0/+4They're solar powered. Assuming nothing breaks* and they don't get stuck**, their range is infinite.
* like the right wheel in this picture
** like the rover is now - zanderw00t, on 06/01/2009, -0/+3That was the FIRST time it got stuck, this is the second time. Compared to Opportunity, Spirit got the short end of the stick as far as a landing site.
- themastersb, on 06/01/2009, -0/+3They should put some cat litter under the wheel. That'll give it better friction
- tumbaba, on 06/01/2009, -0/+2The distortion makes it look like it's sliding down a hill.
- jrm125, on 06/01/2009, -1/+3Get out and push!
- shalinshaun, on 06/30/2009, -0/+1Spirit, you rock more than Wall-E! Keep going!
- tumbaba, on 06/01/2009, -0/+1Later today I will sit and ponder how that damn song got stuck in my head.
But the coolness of the post makes it worthwhile. - bluechips23, on 06/01/2009, -1/+2Ironically I was watching this last night on NGC and they described the problem in details. They finally DID manage to get it unstuck, but it was indeed in a precarious situation. The SPIRIT at that time was operating on 3 wheels (two wheels off the ground in air, one wheel completely nonoperational), so it took some great expertise to finally get it unstuck. The SPIRIT lived for another SOL.
- agulesin, on 06/02/2009, -0/+1WHat I wondered - "the front right wheel no longer spins and is dragged" if so how did it leave a track going into the distance? More like REAR wheels you guys...
Anyway, who's going to argue about such a fantastic mission, still going strong years after the end of its designed life... - agulesin, on 06/03/2009, -0/+1I answered my own question:
"While driving backwards, the rover drags its right front wheel, which no longer rotates."
Source: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spiri ... - InMSWeAntitrust, on 06/01/2009, -0/+1thanks for trying to help me out, but i mostly did it because it had to be done.
- ChrisInTheDark, on 06/02/2009, -0/+1@Defiant001 - one wheel is broke, the other is stuck. (If you follow the link/read the description, it tells which is which.)
- merky1, on 06/01/2009, -1/+1Hopefully NASA is taking the lessons learned from this mission, and building a template for future "rovers". I would love to see these type of missions on every planet / moon in the solar system.
- biddie67, on 06/01/2009, -0/+0Actually, this isn't such a bad idea - don't digg it down - there's some of earth's critters (i.e., turtles) and insects (i.e., caterpillars) that can roll themselves out of problems - a rover could be designed to do this also ....
- lmhiatt, on 06/01/2009, -1/+1Dugg for the Paul Simon reference.
- Defiant001, on 06/01/2009, -1/+1I thought the wheel was only stuck, not broken?
- sponeil, on 06/01/2009, -2/+2If you want each car to cost billions of dollars, maybe. I have a great deal of respect for NASA and its accomplishments, but the things they build are not cheap.
- Bactame, on 06/01/2009, -2/+1Well, that about covers it.
- ritujaipur, on 06/01/2009, -4/+2lovely Pic
- InMSWeAntitrust, on 06/01/2009, -10/+2DO A BARREL ROLL!
- SystemicThought, on 06/01/2009, -14/+2Look closely, it's a Tonka truck in a sand box. They even figured if they go for the black and white pic, they don't need to find red sand. Your tax dollars at work.
- JohnnyBishop, on 06/01/2009, -17/+3Back in my day, we didn't have robots to do our jobs. We used to do it ourselves, with our own two hands. I remember this one time I went up northeast to visit my grandparents in Aberdeen. I was driving my Austin A30 (the only car I have ever, and will ever own) down the highway during a massive blizzard (it was a rough winter during that year as I recall) and I was nearing Loch Lomond when my car decides to sputter and stop dead in the middle of the white storm. Well there I was stranded during a blisteringly chilly winter storm, with nothing but a blanket and five bottles of scotch. I camped out for two days, drinking under that warm blanket, avoiding getting the chillies by going for a nice run through the snow every now and then. Well around the middle of the second day, another man that was heading to Aberdeen drove by my car and decided to give me a lift. When he picked me up I was drunker than I had ever been in my life, stumbling out of my car, which was surrounded by yellow stained snow (probably from my many attempts to write my name in the snow...I had to do something with all that extra liquid). The fine gentleman drove me to Aberdeen where I greeted my grandad and gradmom in the middle of the night by bashing open the front door and singing Finnegan's Wake while finishing up a flask of whiskey (which the fine gentleman that drove me had given me to cure the headache I would get in the morning). My grandad and my grandmom thought I was an intruder, and my grandad gave me a hard thump at me noggin with a bat, which knocked me right unconscious. Well, the next morning I explained everything that had happened (and that I remembered) and my grandparents were glad I had come to visit them. I left the next afternoon, since my two days in the car had gotten me behind schedule, and I was missing from work. As for the car, it remains on that road to this day, still full of empty whiskey bottles and a blanket, as a reminder for me to never trust a machine ever again. And that's why you never get a robot to do your job.
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