May 29, 2009

Dear JPL: I Have an Idea on How to Rescue the Spirit Rover

Written by Nancy Atkinson

We’re all concerned about the Spirit rover, currently stuck in some soft soil on Mars. But some people are actually working hard to figure out how to rescue the rover. That includes a 7-year old boy named Julian who sent this drawing in to JPL with his idea of how help Spirit: use the robotic arm as a “tripod” to lift the rover up and help move it out of the spot where it is embedded.

Julian, you have a bright future ahead of you as an engineer!

“We are getting a lot of interesting suggestions from the public,” said JPL’s John Callas, MER project manager, “and we think that’s wonderful. It shows people are interested in these rovers. We certainly are canvassing the full range of possibilities to get Spirit unstuck.”

And Callas said they are actually planning to use the robotic arm to help get Spirit unstuck, but not quite the way Julian had in mind.

Full article here:

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/05/29/dear-jpl-i-have-an-idea-on-how-to-rescue-the-spirit-rover/