The ultimate in RC!
 

This may be widely known? sorry if I'm posting old news but you've gotta be impressed with the project!! Nasa Freespirit...shame it's up to it's axles with intergalactic dust!!

Too bad they didn't put some proline badlands on that thing, might not have gotten so stuck. :p

I doubt they'll get it out without some type of help from another vehicle. The wheels are burried and that's how it got stuck on the rock in the first place. Maybe with all the money they threw at that thing they should've put a winch on there too :whistle:

Yeah, a harpoon winch. I mean, you could just fire it across an entire crater with the low gravity... :lol: But seriously, would inflatable tires have added so much to the cost?

If there isn't oxygen in the Mars environment the inflatable tires are useless and would pop. Plus they would have to make the capsule airtight while in space (not sure if they did this anyway).

Remember, this is a planet we've never been to.

They would not pop. You would need MUCH less gas to fill them, but they wouldn't pop. Space suits don't pop. The only thing that needs to be air-tight is the pressure system, not the entire rover. Yeah everything that is pressurized would need to be reinforced, oh IDK, 10 times as much as here on Earth, but it is feasible and likely would have saved the current mission. I still think it should have a harpoon winch, too.

Haha good one PBO, but the rover doesn't have enough wheel speed to get the full effect of the paddles.

I was going to put some sand paddle up there as an idea as well, but like W_N? said what's the point if you can't make roost tails with them.