Explanation:
The Martian rover Spirit is now in the race of its life.
The rolling robot is trying to reach an
outpost to spend the winter, but it keeps getting
bogged down in
soft sand on Mars.
Earth scientists hope that
Spirit can
reach a slope on the northern edge of the unusual feature dubbed
Home Plate,
before the end of this month when
northern winter will be phasing in on
Mars.
Reaching this slope will likely allow the
rover to tilt enough toward the Sun to create a
needed increase in the efficiency of its energy-absorbing
solar panels.
This map shows the path of Spirit from July 2004 until just last month.
