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Dec. 8, 2009 / 9:05 AM

Spirit remains trapped in Martian sand

A view from the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the terrain surrounding the location called "Troy," where Spirit became embedded in soft soil during the spring of 2009. The hundreds of images combined into this view were taken beginning on the 1,906th Martian day (or sol) of Spirit's mission on Mars, May 14, 2009 and ending on Sol 1943,June 20, 2009. Spirit has worked on Mars for more than 69 months in what was originally planned as a three-month mission. UPI/NASA

A view from the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the terrain surrounding the location called "Troy," where Spirit became embedded in soft soil during the spring of 2009. The hundreds of images combined into this view were taken beginning on the 1,906th Martian day (or sol) of Spirit's mission on Mars, May 14, 2009 and ending on Sol 1943,June 20, 2009. Spirit has worked on Mars for more than 69 months in what was originally planned as a three-month mission. UPI/NASA | License Photo

PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 8 (UPI) -- NASA engineers attempting to free the Mars rover Spirit from loose Martian sand since April say the results of their attempts so far are not encouraging.

A series of diagnostic tests conducted on Spirit's right-rear wheel last week were designed to investigate stalls that occurred Nov. 28 and earlier. Those diagnostics, the space agency said, included rotor-resistance tests at three temperatures and a one-radian (about 57 degrees) forward motion test.

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"The plan ahead is to explore a set of hypotheses: possible motor failure, possible internal gearbox jam, possible external jam (e.g., a rock in the wheel)," NASA said in a statement. "Commands being developed for Spirit's activities (Tuesday and Wednesday) will include more diagnostics to explore these hypotheses."

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Mars rover

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