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PIA12150: Testing Sequences of Wheel Turns
Mars Exploration Rover team members on July 21, 2009, tested how altering the order in which individual wheels turn for steering affects how those turns dig the wheels deeper into soft soil. From left: Alfonso Herrera, Vandana Verma, Bruce Banerdt.
 Mission:  Mars Exploration Rover (MER) 
 Spacecraft:  Spirit
 Product Size:  1798 x 839 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA12150.tif (4.533 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA12150.jpg (167.9 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Mars Exploration Rover team members on July 21, 2009, tested how altering the order in which individual wheels turn for steering affects how those turns dig the wheels deeper into soft soil. From left: Alfonso Herrera, Vandana Verma, Bruce Banerdt.

This work was part of a series of tests at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., designed to determine the best way to get Spirit out of a Martian patch of soft soil called "Troy," where Spirit's wheels have dug in. The test setup simulates the situation at Troy.

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

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2009-07-21