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Mars Rover Stuck in a Dune

Posted by Zonk on from the get-out-and-push dept.

Bamfarooni writes "The NASA Mars rover Opportunity has gotten stuck in a dune, buried up to the hubs of the wheels. While they haven't given up yet, it doesn't look good for the little guy who's now 359 days into the extended mission." From the article: "The Mars machinery had been cruising southward across the open parking lot-like landscape of Meridiani Planum, full of larger and larger ripples of soil. Opportunity has been en route to its next stopover, Erebus crater, nestled inside an even larger crater known as Terra Nova."

4 of 497 comments (clear)

  1. they are looking for life. by leuk_he · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Maybe they have already found it :

    project hello (work safe link, agecheck is because there is an advertisement for heineken alcohol in there)

    and click "play movie"

  2. Project H.E.L.L.O. by $uit · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Time for nasa to join project H.E.L.L.O
    http://www.h-e-l-l-o.org/
    Be sure to watch the movie!

  3. Being stuck... by Muad'Dave · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    It's gonna get pissed and come back as Op'nity, I swear it.

    --
    Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  4. Re:Southern Drivers by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    When the freeways are not filled to capacity, then leaving more following room does not slow you down at all, this is true. However "not filled to capacity" does not describe LA freeways in the slightest. If the freeway system has all the cars it can fit, then leaving more following room effectively reduces the carrying capacity of the road, leading to all sorts of other traffic jam problems.

    (Consider this example: A 1000 meter section of road, with 6 lanes and each car occupies 15 meters of space, can carry (1000/15)*6 = 296 cars.. but now stretch that out and leave twice as much following distance (so each car occupies 30 meters of road), and now the same chunk of freeway only holds half as many cars (1000/30)*6 = 198 cars.)

    Leaving more following distance equals reducing the carrying capacity of the freeway. This is not a problem in cities where traffic isn't congested and the freeway isn't already at its maximum capacity. LA is not in that situtaion, though.

    --

    Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.