Image used by the Mars Exploration Rover team for assessing movements by Spirit. This illustrates the degree to which Spirit’s wheels have become embedded in soft material at the location called “Troy.” (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Last chance to lift NASA’s spirit (Image: Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Editorial: Indefatigable Spirit
NASA’s twin Mars rovers have outlasted their planned three-month missions for so long that they seem indestructible. Nearly six years on, their presence on the Red Planet is taken for granted, as if they are immutable parts of the Martian landscape.
But we may soon have to confront a new reality. Spirit, which has…
