Press Release Images: Spirit

30-Jun-2009 Test Rover Rolls In Spotlight Test Rover Sinks into Prepared Soil While a test rover rolls off a plywood surface into a prepared bed of soft soil, rover team members Colette Lohr (left) and Kim Lichtenberg (center) eye the wheels digging into the soil and Paolo Bellutta enters the next driving command. The test rover became embedded in the soil during this June 30, 2009, activity, as intended. The test setup simulates the situation that NASA's Mars Rover Spirit faces in a soil patch called "Troy" on Mars. The team planned a few adjustments to more closely match Spirit's situation, such as placing a rock beneath the test rover, and then intended to begin assessing possible maneuvers for Spirit to use getting free from Troy. The test facility is in the In Situ Instrument Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Browse Image | Medium Image (106 kB) | Large (886 kB) 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 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. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Browse Image | Medium Image (71 kB) | Large (1.2 MB) Filling the Simulated Sandtrap Rover team members Mike Seibert (left) and Paolo Bellutta add a barrowful of soil mixture to the sloped box where a test rover will be used for assessing possible maneuvers for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit to use in escaping from a sandtrap on Mars. The test facility is in the In Situ Instrument Laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The team finished preparing the test box on June 29, 2009, with plans for driving the test rover into it on June 30. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Browse Image | Medium Image (121 kB) | Large (1.1 MB)

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