Waiting for word…

All around the world, planetary scientists and “space geeks” (and, as one of them, I use the term with love and respect!) are waiting anxiously to hear if the Mars Exploration Rover “Spirit” has started to move out of its dustbowl trap. It’s been stuck there for months now, bogged down in talcum-fine powdery sand, going absolutely nowhere. Earlier today commands were sent to the rover that the MER team hope will start the process of slowly backing it out of – or “extricating” it from – the buried crater that has been its nemesis all these sols. We’re all keeping a close eye on the website that shows the “raw” images sent back by the rover, and while no-one is expecting to see that Spirit has popped out of its sandtrap, we are all obviously hoping that we’ll see some kind of movement, however small. 

One thing’s for sure – if Spirit could be pulled free by the amount of goodwill there is for her, she’d be standing proudly on all wheels again by now!

Fingers crossed everyone!