NASA's Spirit rover, which has been exploring Mars for evidence of water, has gotten stuck, perhaps inextricably, in the soft Martian soil, said officials from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
"Spirit is in a very difficult situation. We are proceeding methodically and cautiously," JPL's John Callas, project manager for Spirit and its twin rover, Opportunity, said Monday.
NASA said a team of engineers and scientists temporarily has suspended driving Spirit while assessing ways to free the rover, and are planning simulation tests using a test rover.
"It may be weeks before we try moving Spirit again. Meanwhile, we are using Spirit's scientific instruments to learn more about the physical properties of the soil that is giving us trouble," Callas said.
Five wheels that are still functioning on the six-wheel rover are sunk about halfway into the ground, rendering Spirit immobile. The sixth wheel stopped working about three years ago, space officials said.
Spirit and Opportunity launched toward Mars in 2003 seeking answers about the history of water on the Red Planet, and have operated more than five years longer than their originally-planned three-month mission.
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