Mars rover makes its first slow step out of its rut

By Emma Gallegos, Staff Writer

The Mars rover Spirit made its first small step out of the rut it's been mired in for the past six months.

The second time was a charm for the Mars Exploration Rover mission, which began sending signals to Spirit in the wee hours of Tuesday morning after months of perfecting an escape plan for the rover, which has its wheels covered up to its hubcaps in a powdery soil.

"We're encouraged that we got some motion out of the vehicle on the first drive," said project manager John Callas.

The team planned for the rover to take two steps totaling no more than a half-inch on Thursday. Because Spirit exceeded that goal in its first step, the team decided to call it a day to analyze that first step before telling the rover to move any more, Callas said.

"We wanted to limit the rover to very small steps," he said.

The left wheel was able to climb a short distance out of sand and the nonfunctioning right wheel edged forward. But not all of Spirit's motion Thursday morning was what the team was hoping for. Callas said the rover sank a "tiny bit" and it started to shift to the left, the direction in which the rover is already listing.

It's still too early to say what these initial movements might mean, Callas said.

"It's our first step, so it's difficult to extrapolate any kind of trends," Callas said.

He and his team have been careful to emphasize that freeing Spirit from its trap will be a long, slow process - if it happens at all.

The team expected to send signals to the rover at 4:30 a.m. today and spend the rest of the day analyzing the rover's third set of movements. The team might initiate a fourth set of movements Monday morning, Callas said.

As the rover moves, it has been been beaming back pictures of its wheels to help its operators figure out what kind of progress the rover is making.