Diversity Program at NASA Stranded the Mars Spirit Rover

As part of NASA’s diversity mission, the space agency assigned an Asian Woman to drive the Spirit Rover on Mars. Now it is stuck in a sand pit spinning it wheels while its solar panels are slowly choked off with dust.

From the Reg here:

NASA’s Spirit Mars rover today passes its sixth anniversary on the Red Planet, albeit bogged down in sandy soil which looks likely to be its final resting place.

Spirit arrived on Mars at 8:35 pm PST on 3 January, 2004 (04:35 GMT on 4 January), followed by its twin Opportunity on 24 January. The pair were intitially expected to last three months, but have proved they have the Right Stuff by surviving “six Earth years, or 3.2 Mars years”, as NASA puts it.

However, Spirit got stuck in a sand trap dubbed “Troy” in Mars’s southern hemisphere back in April. Having already suffered a right-front wheel failure in 2006, its right-rear wheel then succumbed to intermittent failure. NASA explains: “Drives with four or five operating wheels have produced little progress toward escaping the sand trap. The latest attempts resulted in the rover sinking deeper in the soil.”

Lulz in the comments on the article:

Have they tried an inverted tachion pulse? Or failing that a remodulated plasma infusion with a synchronised ion discharge? No, perhaps a more simple approach could work. It could use its robotic arm to dig its way out with a spoon.