PIA12109: Assessing Movement of Test Rover


Assessing Movement of Test Rover

Caption:

After commanding five of a test rover's six wheels to drive forward, rover driver Paolo Bellutta (left) measures how much the rover moved sideways, downslope, during the maneuver. Rover mission manager Alfonso Herrera (standing) checks computer entry of the data. This testing on July 6, 2009, was part of work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., to determine the best maneuvers for NASA's Mars Explortaion Rover Spirit to use for getting out of a patch of soft soil where it is embedded on Mars. One of Spirit's six wheels, the right-front one, has not been operable since early 2006. The test setup simulates Spirit's challenging situation.

Background Info:

To see updates on the efforts to free the Spirit rover, visit the JPL Free Spirit website.

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
Detector
Extra Keywords Color
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2009-07-06
Date in Caption 2009-07-06
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12109
Identifier PIA12109