PIA03035: Spirit Wiggles into Position


Spirit Wiggles into Position

Caption:

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit completed a difficult, rocky ascent en route to reaching a captivating rock outcrop nicknamed "Hillary" at the summit of "Husband Hill." At the end of the climb the robotic geologist was tilted almost 30 degrees. To get the rover on more solid footing for deploying the instrument arm, rover drivers told Spirit to wiggle its wheels one at a time. This animation shows Spirit's position before and after completing the wheel wiggle, during which the rover slid approximately 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) downhill. Rover drivers decided this position was too hazardous for deploying the instrument arm and subsequently directed Spirit to a more stable position before conducting analyses with instruments on the rover's arm.

Spirit took these images with its front hazard-avoidance camera on martian day, or sol, 625 (Oct. 6, 2005).

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
Instrument Host Spirit (MER-A)
Host Type Rover
Instrument Hazard Camera (Hazcam)
Detector
Extra Keywords Grayscale, Movie
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2005-10-14
Date in Caption 2005-10-06
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03035
Identifier PIA03035