Opportunity frees itself from Martian sand dune

The Monterey Herald ^ | June 4, 2005 | Associated Press

[ApplegateRanch]

Thanks, Marvin!

[WHATNEXT?]

So, the lack of distant tracks means that during the past five weeks the wind has blown away the old tracks?

[twntaipan]

Looks to me like they just waited until the snow had melted. ;-)

[A CA Guy]

[SSR1]

Yeah!! Glad to see this. Good work to the guys and gals over at JPL.
Look at how deep it was mired. wow.
It is looking more and more that we should take manned space activites away from NASA and just let them do what they do best: Robot exporation.
Just look at V'ger: Still scooting along nicely. actually about to leave our own Solar system. God Speed Voyagers! Even with that stupid record on your side. I hope we are not judged too harsly for that bit of dreck. But a little more shielding is aways a good thing. ;^)
Keep of the good work Spirit and Opportunity!

[DoctorMichael]

I've been following this mission from the beginning. Good news!

[FreedomCalls]

So, the lack of distant tracks means that during the past five weeks the wind has blown away the old tracks?

No, that's where they were stuck. They backed out of the tracks they were in, backing overtop of the tracks they made getting stuck. Here's the view out the other side showing the tracks where it came from.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Had a 4x4, but got stck anyway, right on the beach, about 10 mi south of Rodanth. Deflating the tires to 10 psi did the trick. :O)

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Those sand traps on that Erebus Crater back nine are tough, especially when there's a strong cross-wind. With low gravity, best to stick to a 5-iron on the fairways.

[WHATNEXT?]

Aw, that explains it. Thanks.