Press Release Images: Spirit

10-Jul-2009 Tests Evaluating Crabwalk Moves Spotlight   After a Crabwalk Test Mars Exploration Rover team members prepare a testing setup for a subsequent experiment after an experiment driving the rover in a crablike motion, with all four corner wheels angled to the right. Clockwise from top: Scott Maxwell, Pauline Hwang, Kim Lichtenberg. This work on July 9, 2009, was part of a series of tests at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., designed to determine the best way to get NASA's Spirit rover out of a Martian patch of soft soil called "Troy," where Spirit's wheels have dug in. The test setup, in a box that team members are calling the dustbin, simulates the situation at Troy. The box holds about 2.7 tons of a powdery mixture of diatomaceous earth and fire clay. This material has physical properties similar to the soil at Troy. The top surface is sloped at 10 degrees. Image credit: Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Browse Image | Medium Image (102 kB) | Large (651 kB) Full-Res (NASA's Planetary Photojournal)

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