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A Single Step?
By: Dennis Rayburn
11/23/2009
As I recently reported, efforts to free the Mars rover Spirit from being stuck on the surface took a major step this past week as the first of many commands to begin hopefully freeing the small Mars traveler were sent to it.
The first attempt was aborted by the rover's computer as it determined that the commands would cause the machine to exceed its safety limits, specifically how far it could tip. However, according to a report on Discovery.com, the second set of commands resulted in some movement by the rover beyond spinning it's wheels.
These were the first of many commands that are to be sent to the small Martian explorer over the next weeks in an attempt to free it from the site it became stuck in May of this year. While this past weeks tests were just the first steps, as you can see from the two frame flash animation, there are hopeful signs that the efforts may become successful.
Plans are for efforts to continue through February of 2010 to free the rover from it's situation. Nothing has been said about what will happen after that. We'll have more news on the effort to free Spirit as we get it.
Photo: NASA.gov
Author: Dennis Rayburn
Dennis Rayburn is a columnist for Roddenberry.com. His column, "Two Strips of Latinum" appears every Sunday through Thursday.
Contact: drayburn@roddenberry.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/drayburn
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3 Responses
I believe I do remember. Wonderful to hear from you and thanks for the comment!
Dennis Rayburn
11/29/2009
Rember a klingon named Noggra,and a council you were once on ,...good column
khel of tAloR
11/28/2009
They will figure something out. Those rovers are more durable then they expected them to be.
NoonienSoong97
11/24/2009
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