Mars Rover Stuck in a Dune

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."

Figures.

[Anonymous Coward]

It was probably attacked by a giant sandworm.

Re:Figures.

[CodeBuster]

bless the maker and his water, bless the coming and going of him, may his passing cleanse the world...

Re:Southern Drivers

[robertjw]

...haven't had the pleasure of learning to drive in deep snow without 4WD and chains.

Actually, they probably should have hired Californians with experience driving 4WD vehicles across SAND since they got stuck in a dune. Maybe somebody who has experience in the Imperial Sand Dunes [montereyherald.com]. Driving in snow is very different than driving in sand, I've done both. Plus, the rover appears to be a six wheel drive.

It's easy!

[flyingsquid]

Just take the floormats out and put them under the wheels for traction. Or you can let some air out of the tires which will give them a bigger footprint and better traction.

Re:It's easy!

[Ced_Ex]

Letting the air out isn't urban legend. The purpose of letting *some* air out is to give the tire greater surface area to get grip. You're not deflating the tire completely, just taking out about 10-15lbs psi. Read it here. [californiajeeper.com]

Also, the floor mats do work, those people you see obviously don't know what they are doing with the floormats if they are ejecting them into the air. Don't floor it when you shove the mats under! You're suppose to just crawl it out using the floormats for grip instead of loose sand, or ice.

Re:It's easy!

[WormholeFiend]

maybe we can ask the same Martian who's been cleaning the solar panels if he would please put some floormats under the rover's wheels so it can move along?

Re:Southern Drivers

[Afrosheen]

Yeah, there are 2 problems with places where it rarely rains, when it rains.

1. The US has chosen the worse possible grade of asphalt (blacktop) for the majority of streets and parts of highways. Europe uses a much safer grade which uses larger rocks in the mix, therefore giving your tires more to grab onto in the wet. Ask Germany how well this works.

2. In densely populated areas, you get alot of junk cars on the roads leaking oils and fluids. This, combined with heaps of rubber, bakes into the road surfac

More self-righteous moral preening

[ccmay]

I guess the primary target market for SUV's is people that don't give a shit about anyone but themselves. Which seems to be the emerging attitude among privileged americans. The rest of us drive cars.

How comical. Your smug distinction would be completely lost on the 90% of the world's population who have no car at all.

But don't let that stop you from patting yourself on the back. Knock yourself out.

-ccm

Damn potholes

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearly the Martian Highways Dept. need to get a crew up there right away and fix these potholes before someone gets hurt.

muu

[ondjultomte]

They need bigger wheels! Knew they shoulda opt for those shiny 18" !

This is what *REALLY* happened

[netglen]

They're too embarrased to admit it, but they actually found the rover on red cement blocks and some Mars fiend has stolen the wheels.

Re:Naw. They should've used Dubs

[Rei]

And they could have launched it on a Rice Rocket. I'm picturing an old Delta-2 with an oversized "Type R" decal, a dozen gigantic fog lights, oversized chrome-plated bell nozzles on the engines, racing stripes, and extraneous fins. ;)

Re:Baja Claws

[mikael]

Not bigger wheels, bigger tires. Shoulda went with some 44" Baja Claws

No, you need sand tyres [landroverclub.net] - mud tyres are designed to dig deep into the dirt.
That's the last thing you want to do if you are travelling across sand.

If only they had a caddie

[chadamir]

If they had a caddie they would know that they could use a sand wedge to get it out. But nasa is far too cheap and doesn't like to tip.

Hold on!

[rlthomps-1]

This is going to take a whole lot of floorin'! /obligatory simpsons quote

Re:Hold on!

[PaxTech]

They should have sent a Canyonero..

Can you name the truck with four wheel drive, smells like a steak and seats thirty-five.. CANYONERO!!!

Solution

[AKAImBatman]

Poor little rover. We should send someone up to push it out. I volunteer!

Re:Solution

[tomstdenis]

Yeah nothing like a 4 month voyage to get there... only to nudge it and fly 4 months home...

The inflight movies better be good otherwise you'll be hella bored!

Tom

Re:Solution

[tomstdenis]

good call, he can skateboard with them like in RvB.

Tom

Re:Solution

[Striikerr]

No need to worry! The DID install OnStar didn't they?? Just have the robotic arm press the button... What do you mean they didn't design the arm so it could press the OnStar button?!? Well, there goes THAT idea!

Re:Solution

[Jorkapp]

Onstar: Onstar, how may I help you?
Rover: Yea, I seem to be stuck in a sand dune on another planet.
Onstar: Alright, I'll send a rescue crew to meet you. They should be there in about 4 months.
Rover: About that, could you hurry it up? I think this sand dune is collaps...

+++NO_CARRIER

Dear NASA

[Letter]

Dear NASA,

If you had let Xzibit and West Coast Customs pimp out the Rover with 20 inch rims you would have avoided this problem.

Letter

Re:Dear NASA

[east coast]

If you had let Xzibit and West Coast Customs pimp out the Rover with 20 inch rims you would have avoided this problem.

Yeah, but the only thing they would have done to the drive train was put another quart of motor oil in a 25 year old Ford engine with 320,000 miles...

We'z gonna fix yo bucket!

Re:Dear NASA

[Moby Cock]

NASA Engineer: Sir, we need bigger tires to get out of the dune.
Project Learder: Holla at'cha boyyee
NASA Engineer: Uh, sir, what do you want us to do?
Project Leader: Awww, Snap! Dat rover be da bomb!
NASA Engineer: I'm going home.
Project Leader: H to the O to the M to the E.

Re:Dear NASA

[Talking Goat]

Whitest. Post. Ever.

Re:Dear NASA

[gstoddart]

Not if you live in Nashville, TN the rage here is to get a crap ride, throw on some 24 inch rims and tires that actually raise the car. I saw this one guy had more ground clearance in his buick then I had in my Explorer.

ROFLMAO -- by now you'd think I would be used to the fact that you shouldn't ever underestimate the stupidity of people and the strange stuff they'll do.

I retract my previous obvservation. :-P

Cheers (and thanks for the laugh)

Job well done

[witchman]

Too bad if it's permanently stuck, but what an amazing success for this mission, which has gone on far longer that it was planned for. I hope the NASA engineers get the recognition they deserver for this job well done.

Re:Job well done

[AHumbleOpinion]

Now the shuttle engineers.... thats a whole different story!

The shuttle engineers did an outstanding job, keep in mind that much of it is 70s design. Some of it 60s? Now factor in all the politicians and outside organizations that meddled with the design. The funding cuts and other problems that undermined day to day operations. Engineers have to use what is available now and what is within budget, and the shuttle guys did an outstanding job at the time. Today's situation is largely the result of polit

Re:Job well done

[Rei]

When the Mars Rovers start launching 25K kg to LEO, you can start making that comparison. We're not even talking about remotely comparable classes of vehicles.

You know how new, large jet engines can cost millions of dollars, even though they're mass-produced? Picture an engine that dwarfs your typical jet engine in terms of complexity (in order to get such extreme performance - a single SSME no larger than a 747's engine could propel a 747 at 4 Gs, and still manages to be one of the most efficient rocket engines), and is not mass-manufactured, and you start to get an idea of what is involved here. Real rocket engines (we're just talking about the engines here - the rest of the craft is incredibly difficult, too!), as opposed to little joyride engines that use a heavy tank of nitrous and tube full of rubber, deal with some of the hottest (hotter than the boiling point of lead), most corrosive (high temperature hydrogen-rich thermodynamically imbalanced mixtures corrode things very easily), high vibration, very high thrust, and yet very maneuverable (for gimballing) environments that humans have ever produced. And to make it reusable? A truly incredible feat.

And to think that the fuel is LH (just barely above absolute zero - the temperature alone makes metals brittle - and hydrogen itself severely embrittles metals and leaks through almost anything), while the oxidizer is LOX (one of the most corrosive oxidizers you can get apart from LF). You need to not only contain them (and prevent ice from forming on these frigid structures without adding much weight at all), but to build your tanks with such a bare-minimum-thickness that if you were to turn many rockets upside down when full, they'd rupture due to the taper. These tanks need to be somewhat pressurized (although most pressure needs to be added in the turbopumps - amazing devices on their own). Every last pipe (and there are *many* of them), every last joint, must be as weak as possible, but still welded/attached security, uncorrodable, not allow ice buildup, not melt, and not be vibrated loose. And then, the structure overall is collossal - the whole thing needs to be built this way.

We haven't even gotten into reentry and the problems of being in space for a long time. It's really incredible that we can get off this rock at all; the term "rocket science" being used to mean "highly difficult problems" is quite apt.

Re:Job well done

[Rei]

It significantly increases the complexity of the task, for certain. It's a lot easier just to let your engine corrode and crack from the exhaust stream, be embrittled by your fuel or oxidizer, have its joints weakened by the vibration, etc. Stopping this is difficult and costly.

On the other hand, if it's reusable, you only have to build it once, with is a huge advantage when you're dealing with something as expensive as a high performance rocket engine.

Re:Job well done

[Rei]

Soyuz isn't more reliable - they have similar safety records, although the Shuttle's is slightly better (both craft have had two fatal launches, but the shuttle has launched more manned flights; more people have died on the shuttle, but that's because it carries more people).

Soyuz is cheaper - about half the price per kilogram as the shuttle. There are a lot of factors involved here, but as the previous poster mentioned, most of them have to do with it not being reusable. The downside to this is that the

Dear NASA & JPL

[computerme]

If any NASA or JPL people are reading this thread I have one thing to say:

Mission _very_ accomplished.

The human race knows infinitely more of our red neighbor thanks to your hard work.

THANK YOU!

Re:Dear NASA & JPL

[roror]

The One thing I hope NASA people not doing now is reading slashdot.

Re:Dear NASA & JPL

[jd]

Oh, I dunno. It seems to me that it would give them more useful information than reading memos from their upper management.

Re:Dear NASA & JPL

[ajnsue]

I just linked to the pictures on the marsrover website. Gives you chills. /.'ers get into raving discussions about technology thats obsoleted in a few months. And somewhere, somebody is DRIVING A FREAKIN VEHICLE AROUND ON ANOTHER PLANET, TAKING PICTURES! ...geez i feel so insignificant, I need a hug.

Re:Dear NASA & JPL

[er_head66]

What the hell is this shit? Did /. just become livejournal?

Demolition derby

[mrseigen]

They have two rovers. The solution is obvious.

Re:Demolition derby

[milimetric]

You're right... the rovers could have sex and in time hope to breed a mighty race of rovers which could then pull out the one that's stuck.

I'm imagining that the other rover is pretty far away and wouldn't get there for a year or so.

But hey, what's everyone all pesimistic about... as you point out, you do have two rovers, why not use the other one? The MISSION CONTINUES!

Re:Demolition derby

[saskboy]

Now Disney can get in on the NASA act, and make a children's movie about the Two Rovers that Left Home.

One got stuck, and the other one thousands of kilometers away, goes on a desperate mission to cross the planet to rescue Opportunity before his battery runs out. All this with help from his sidekick Marvin the Martian, NASA JPL Jake, and Duney the Dune.

Re:Demolition derby

[Idarubicin]

I know the parent poster is kidding, but for those who are wondering...

Under near-ideal conditions, the rovers could crawl a hundred meters (three hundred or so feet) per day.

The two rovers are on roughly opposite sides of the planet, which has a diameter of nearly seven thousand kilometers. To bring the other rover around--assuming you could drive in a straight line and there were no obstacles or technical problems--would take two or three hundred years.

Re:Demolition derby

[KiloByte]

Well, we now know that we need to drive carefully.

The rovers are sun-powered, so the other rover can simply drive all the way after its done with examining its vicinity. We have the time, and the Little Green Men are already helping with dusting the solar panels :p

Call Triple A

[east coast]

They'll get there in less than 30 minutes or the next tow is free!

Re:Call Triple A

[jd]

Actually, they need AAAA (American Astronautical Automobile Association). However, the AAAA is currently on-route to Pioneer 11 to replace the battery.

Well...

[GillBates0]

...looks like it's time to call 1-800-AAA-HELP.

Hope NASA has AAA emergency roadside assistance membership.

Let me say this out loud!

[zr-rifle]

BEAGLE to the RESCUE!!!

...or maybe not...

Don't give up, NASA!

[bigtallmofo]

"We are very optimistic that we'll be able to get out of here, but we're really going to take our time doing it."

It sounds like NASA is going to use a technique I discovered playing video games as a child. If you're stuck somewhere, just wiggle the joystick back and forth for a few hours to see if you can work your way out of it. Too bad they can't reload a saved game. I found that technique helpful too.

Re:Don't give up, NASA!

[nharmon]

Actually you may be more right than you realize. Those with four-wheel-drive vehicles (that actually leave the pavement) know that sometimes after getting stuck, you can move the steering wheel from side to side as a way of trying to gain traction from the sides of the rut you're in.

Perhaps NASA could learn a thing or two from rednecks in 4x4 pickup trucks? *smile*

Re:Don't give up, NASA!

[Eyeball97]

As somebody who's been stuck in sand a few times, it's actually not such a bad idea.

If you get the momentum right, rocking back and forth will often "jump" you out of it as long as you haven't been a complete dummy and run full throttle digging yourself as deep as you an go...

Dunno why they don't just pull it out with the tractor beam from the other Rover, though.

Oh, wait... wrong reality...

Dune, my ass

[gowen]

My bet is that its grounded on the wreckage of Beagle II. :)

Re:Dune, my ass

[TCQuad]

My bet is that its grounded on the wreckage of Beagle II. :)

I was going to dismiss this out of hand, but FTA, Opportunity did find two small craters right before running aground. The cause?
They could have been created by an object from space that was large enough to make it through the martian atmosphere without burning up.

And, let's not forget:
"Given that these two craters haven't been covered by sand even though they are surrounded by sand ripples on a flat plain lends support to the idea that they're fairly recent."

Summary is a little too sensational

[calibanDNS]

From TFA: Rover operators are optimistic they can extricate the robot from its jam, having gotten dug in before. and said Steve Squyres, lead scientist on the Mars Exploration Rover effort at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. "We are very optimistic that we'll be able to get out of here, but we're really going to take our time doing it."

I'd hardly interpret that as "it doesn't look good for the little guy".

Re:Summary is a little too sensational

[pintpusher]

Translation:

Rover operators are optimistic they can extricate the robot from its jam

sure thing boss, no problem, get it right out of there (oh crap, we're screwed)

having gotten dug in before

Yes boss, we've done it before, no problem(I can't believe we got stuck dune hopping again, this never happens with my r/c cars at home...)

but we're really going to take our time doing it

It'll only take a little while... (OH @#$& I just dug it in deeper, whats on Monster.com?)

Re:Summary is a little too sensational

[pHatidic]

Yeah, but even still I'd hate to be the guy who got it stuck right now. Talk about awkward.

Re:Summary is a little too sensational

[stevesliva]

I think it was mentioned elsewhere that not only was the deep sand of the dune crest an issue here, but also the fact that Opportunity hit this crest laterally, not perpendicular to the crest, causing all wheels to get mired. The rover computers know to avoid big rocks and such, but obviously weren't configured to look out for this.

Re:Summary is a little too sensational

[ari_j]

Tell me why you RTFA, please. It doesn't make sense. The submitter didn't read it, the editors didn't read it, and nobody else here is going to read it. Why did you? At least post a comment or two before reading it, and then come back.

Re:Summary is a little too sensational

[ediron2]

I saw this gaffe before the article left 'the mysterious future', and sent an email to the editor, just like they request:

to: [e-mail]
subject: Mars/Opportunity Story innacurate

Bamfarooni wrote: it doesn't look good for the little guy who's now 359 days into the extended

Compare this to the linked article: Rover operators are optimistic they can extricate the robot from its jam, having gotten dug in before.

No reply to me, yet. But the story shifted from:
... It doesn't look good...
to:
... While they haven't given up yet, it doesn't look good...

Draw your own conclusions.

Buggalo

[bsd4me]

I'm sure someone riding a buggalo will fly by soon and rescue it.

Bigger Wheels

[eander315]

With all of the rediculous trucks [f650pickups.com] on the road in the US, you'd think NASA would have been inspired to build a montster truck version of the rover. Couldn't we just send a Hummer next time?

Re:Bigger Wheels

[nharmon]

Couldn't we just send a Hummer next time?

Just make sure that it isn't a Hummer H2...those things can break a tierod on anything. *duck*

Re:Bigger Wheels

[TheKidWho]

Did someone say SUV?

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology /mars_science_lab_040211.html [space.com]

Re:Bigger Wheels

[Dirk Pitt]

Naw, those humvees are only useful if you're carting grunts over poorly paved roads and getting shot at.

If you're leaving the pavement, send a real rover. [roversnorth.com]

BattleBots

[RealityMogul]

If only NASA engineers watched more BattleBots they'd have realized that they needed a flipper arm underneath.

More info

[Cyclotron_Boy]

There's discussion on the Mars Rover Discussion Board [markcarey.com] and again [markcarey.com]. It seems careful Rover Watchers noticed that it hadn't moved in a few days, and started to wonder why. Apparently NASA had to say something, because people were asking questions.

Re:More info

[hoggoth]

> careful Rover Watchers noticed that it hadn't moved in a few days, and started to wonder why. Apparently NASA had to say something, because people were asking questions.

My wife hasn't moved in a few days either. Being a careful watcher, I am starting to wonder why.

Re:More info

[Cyclotron_Boy]

Actually, this shot [nasa.gov] from the Mars Rover site shows the front wheels pretty well buried and covered with caked-on soil.

Wow...

[Seoulstriker]

That really is a small planet!

Re:Wow...

[quisph]

Nah, it's a really big rover!

Re:More info

[The Angry Mick]

I wonder why the soil is caking on the wheels? I would think that even ultra fine sand wouldn't do that unless there was some form of moisture.

Re:More info

[Dun Malg]

I wonder why the soil is caking on the wheels? I would think that even ultra fine sand wouldn't do that unless there was some form of moisture. Try playing with some ultra-fine powder, like flour, powdered clay, or wood ash. It tends to "cake up" when compressed also when dry. Same thing.

Re:More info

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no caking, what you are seeing is the disturbed sand in the shadow of the rover -- it's a heap of sand on the ground (disturbed no doubt by the rover spinning it's (back) wheels) and the presense of the shadow and the wheel in the 2 dimensional picture makes it look like (at first glance) that the sand is stuck to the wheel.

The right wheel (from the perspective of the picture) is perfectly clear. The left wheel looks to be in motion to me.

Re:More info

[Chokai]

In order to even the wear on the drive motors on the rovers SteveS and crew have been alternating between driving forward and backwards.

Re:More info

[ahecht]

You do realize that the first link is to a thread that is over a year old, right?

HEY!....... HEY YOU!

[MarkGriz]

Yes you, solar panel washer martian dude [msn.com].

How about a little help over here.

Dust devil?

[avalys]

I wonder if a passing dust devil, of the same sort that periodically clear the dust off the rover's solar panels, might be able to blow some of the sand away from the wheels?

It might take a while, but hey...

Learn to drive in snow

[classicvw]

Now they need somebody from upper midwest, or upper New York to show them how to get out. I have been in worse than that, and they are 6 wheel drive.

That sucks, but they got their money's worth

[stlhawkeye]

NASA has definitely gotten their money's worth out of these two golf carts. These missions have exceded their design specifications by like 500% or something. Weren't they meant for a 90-day mission? We're going on over a year. That's nuts.

As much as my Nerd Gene wants a manned mission to Mars, it's hard to argue with the scientific value of (relatively) cheap missions like this. NASA shifted in the late 90's to a series of relatively inexpensive probes with a narrow purpose (as opposed to the Voyager-class missions). These probes make sense. For one, there's less financial damage if one fails or is destroyed. And two, they can be put together, tested, and launched more cheaply and more quickly.

And we're getting some excellent science from them. The Mars rovers were an hour-by-hour news story, then a day-by-day news story, there was a lot of public interest in them during those first few days. These kinds of missions are, I think, more crucial to human space exploration than launching a dude to Mars.

There's some things you must have people in space to accomplish, but we've got a lot to learn yet through frugal unmanned space exploration and I hate to see so much of NASA's focus being shifted towards manned operations. Honestly, I hate to see NASA continuing to be involved in the production and operational side of space exploration. I think NASA should be reformulated as a primarily science and research-oriented organization and launch operations should be almost entirely privatized. NASA does too many things and most of it not that well, and none of it efficiently.

Re:That sucks, but they got their money's worth

[barawn]

Or did they really expect the rover to last this long and simply said it was a 90 day mission in order to cover their tails?

Ding ding ding, we have a winner. All NASA probes are typically given a very short lifetime and very modest expectations, engineering them for much larger goals. Easier to request money from Congress that way, and also less of a PR disaster if something goes wrong.

Images

[Maddog Batty]

The rover is driving backwards so there is more to see in the front view [nasa.gov] than there is in the back view [nasa.gov]

I hope they get it out...

Re:Images

[Concerned Onlooker]

It's also interesting to compare the above image with this one [nasa.gov], taken Jan. 31, 2004 when the wheels were relatively clean an un-caked.

A la Lancelot

[Joe the Lesser]

Rover: Could uh... could someone give me a push?...

They've probably tried this already...

[devphaeton]

....and that's probably how it got stuck, but they could possibly rock it out like a car.

I've always wondered why they built it with wheels and not tracks though. Guess some of them are wondering the same thing now.

This sucks. Really.

Re:They've probably tried this already...

[Martin Blank]

Tracks are mechanically much more complex. Each track is mechanically linked with its neighbors, increasing the number of possible failures.

Terrestrial Simulations

[QuantumFTL]

I wouldn't worry too much about this one - the engineers are already using the engineering test rovers to test possible means of escape here on earth. The test rovers have proven invaluable in the past for modelling such complex situations (where computer models would be unlikely to be of much help).

The rover had made it many kilometers, I don't a little sand dune is going to stop it. All the scientists I've spoken to about this seemed optimistic (which was not how they felt about the spirit anomoly back in January 2004) so... I'm not worried just yet.

Does make for some very cool pictures though!
-- Justin

Time for help from the dustdevils again

[johnjay]

Now if only one of those dustdevils that's been cleaning the solar panels would be kind enough to wedge a 2"x12" behind the drive wheel...

Should have sent a H2 instead of a "Rover"

[FerretFrottage]

Sure it would have only gotten a few km down away from the lander before needing to gas up, but no little dune would stop it unless the engineers were afraid of getting it dirty since they only want to use the H2 to drive to the local Mars mini-mart and back.

that aint no crater...

[bobsalt]

looks like worm sign to me...

Wrong guys are driving the thing...

[kenneytechnologies]

We need to get those volvo driving NASA geeks out of the drivers seat and call in Cousin Clyde. Sure, he's used to driving a F350 with 10" lift and 32" mudboggers, but hell, just tell him it's eight wheel drive and there's a case of PBR in it for him. He'll have it unstuck in no time.

Why can't they

[RealProgrammer]

Why can't they just

• Back up? ("What do you mean, 'there's no reverse'? Budget cuts my ass!")
• Activate the built-in turbo jacks? [speedracer.com]
• Ask Google? When I get in a jam, that's what I do.
• Reverse the polarity?

I guess that's why I'm not in charge of NASA.

IRTA

[Orlando]

The Mars machinery had been cruising southward across the open parking lot-like landscape of Meridiani Planum full of lager

Just let him sleep it off, apart from a headache he'll be alright in the morning.

If only NASA had sprung $50 for a AAA membership

[hqm]

If they would just have coughed up the $50 for their AAA membership, this wouldn't be a problem.
As it stands, the towing charges are going to be astronomical.

careful on Dune

[brer_rabbit]

if the rover stays in one place too long, it may be eaten by a sandworm. I hate it when sandworms eat my harvesters.

Better sensationalized version...

[theendlessnow]

The rover is dead. Somebody has already stripped the hub caps and key'd the side of the vehicle. Left rear axle is up on blocks. Birds have covered the front and rear windows with poop. It doesn't look good for the little guy who's now 359 days into the extended mission. It is unlikely that a tow truck will reach it anytime soon.

Some suggestions to get UNstuck...

[qualico]

Being an avid 4x4'er and no stranger to getting stuck, the best suggestions are this:

1. Do *not* make things worse by spinning the wheels and digging yourself *in* further.
(You're not rushing so you know this already, but certainly don't spin the wheels)
2. Try to wiggle/dig *out* some clearance between your undercarriage and the sand. The more contact points you have the more friction you need to overcome. (After exhausting all options you may want to use the arms to remove as much sand from around the wheels and undercarriage as is possible. This may ruin the scientific instruments on those arms, but at least you'll better your chances of getting out.)
3. Straighten your wheels as much as possible, but also try to match the entrance route.
(noticed in the picture that one of the wheels is perpendicular to the track line, not a great way to get out.)
4. Use your highest gear and slowly without tire spin, REVERSE!
(It's usually best to go the route you came from, *not* visa versa because you've compacted the sand and you don't want to "plow" anymore)
5. If that is difficult, ROCK the house! Rocking back and forth to create a space to give momentum on the way out is a great way of "punching" through the hard spot. Again, the reverse route is usually the best choice to rock out of. Give one last good pendulum type run at it when you're ready to try to bust out. Rocking forward then at the pinnacle, rock with all you have backwards.
5. Use time to your advantage; keep working at it with the above. You don't want the sand to settle like cement though, so don't just sit there. Further those pesky dust devils may fill your tracks.
6. Perhaps you can use gravity to your advantage on a slope.

I'd wish you good luck, but there is no such thing as luck.
There's only statistically calculated coincidence.

So good "statistical calculating"!

Hello

[rodney dill]

Onstar?

Re:Dune?

[Husgaard]

Yes, soon one of those giant sand worms will come and swallow the poor rover...

When the signal from the rover disappears, we finally have proof of life on Mars ;-)

Re:I warned them!

[PhraudulentOne]

Was it a winch that magically worked in sand? A Sand winch? Sandwinch... sandwich... mmm lunchtime.

Re:Humor?

[Kaamoss]

I couldn't agree more. Even if they can't get Rover up and running again, which I'm sure they will, it's had a good run and garnered a wealth of new information for us. It's essential purpose has been served so regardless of the outcome it's still a good thing.

Re:Tow Job

[stlhawkeye]

Wouldn't it be amazing if they both lasted long enough to eventually meet up somewhere? It'd probably take years but talk about publicity! Two robots designed for 90-day missions circumnavigating another planet! I wonder if it's even possible, given their design and Mars' terrain.

Re:Change type of vehicle?

[stlhawkeye]

Considering the Martian soil is practially all sand (at least where they like to land) wouldn't it be better to use hovercrafts there? there's plenty of atmospheric gasses (CO2 mostly) and i think this doesn't get all that affected by dust.

Somebody else mentioned treads as well. I'm guessing these things were considered and discarded due to the extra complexity, weight, and power requirements of those modes of locomotion.

Re:It's okay, it was powered by Windows XP...

[DeathFlame]

He had a life, but he got it from Microsoft so it crashed! hahah. I'm so clever.