NASA engineers are set to take a second go at extricating the
stuck rover Spirit from its sandy trap on Mars.
New commands for the rover to attempt
to drive out of the sand it is stuck in will be sent up early in the
morning on Thursday, according to a NASA report releasted late Wednesday.
Spirit has been mired in the sand pit, dubbed "Troy," since April.
The first attempt to free Spirit, which took place on
Tuesday, hit
a snag when the rover sensed it was tilting too much and stopped after less
than one second of wheel spin.
The new commands have taken the rover's attitude into
account. They will again instruct Spirit
to drive ahead in two 8.2-feet (2.5-meter) steps. Those distances are the
amount of wheel spin the rover will use; the rover is not expected to move very
much.
The results from this second drive attempt will be beamed
down via a Mars orbiter relay later on Thursday. But the relay pass has a
limited downlink volume, so the rover team will likely be unable to complete
their analysis that same day.
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