On Mars, a rover named Spirit has gotten stuck in soft, alien soil. About two weeks ago, its wheels dug into the Martian soil, and the plucky rover became trapped. A two-year exploration of Victoria Crater on Mars by the rover Opportunity has thrown up more evidence of the red planet’s wild, windy and wet past.

Victoria Crater, half-mile wide and 250 feet deep, yielded a treasury of information about the planet’s geologic history and supported previous findings indicating that water once flowed on the planet’s surface, according to Steve Squyres. Squyres is Cornell University professor of astronomy and the principal investigator for NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover mission. The rover is now heading south toward Endeavor crater, 8.5 miles away.

The rover revealed the effects of wind and water. The data show water repeatedly came and left billions of years ago. Wind persisted much longer, heaping sand into dunes between ancient water episodes. These activities still shape the landscape today. At Victoria, steep cliffs and gentler alcoves alternate around the edge of a bowl about a half a mile in diameter. The scalloped edge and other features indicate the crater once was smaller than it is today, but wind erosion has widened it gradually.

“What drew us to Victoria Crater is the thick cross-section of rock layers exposed there,” said Squyres. “The impact that excavated the crater millions of years ago provided a golden opportunity, and the durability of the rover enabled us to take advantage of it.”

About two weeks ago, its wheels dug into the Martian soil, and the plucky rover became trapped. Spirit has been roaming the red planet for more than five years, but its roving days could be over unless scientists and engineers back on Earth can figure out how to get the robot unstuck.

If the Spirit rover remains entrenched in the soft Martian soil, that doesn’t mean it’s dead. It could still take pictures to send back to Earth and do other science that didn’t require moving. But Spirit would not be a rover anymore.
You can find out more about this story and the Mars Rover on newsgroups. Here are just some dedicated to astronomy newsgroups in general:

alt.astronomy

tw.bbs.sci.astronomy

uk.sci.astronomy

nctu.club.astronomy

fido7.su.astronomy

alt.astronomy.solar

a.b.astronomy

alt.astronomy.art-deco

alt.astronomy.nightbat

msn.forums.astronomy.suggestbox

sci.astronomy

msn.forums.astronomy.guestbook