Blocked ramp delays Spirit rover’s roll-out on Mars

THE Spirit rover will spend another week parked on the spacecraft that took it to Mars, as cautious engineers work to clear a safe path for the six-wheeled robot to roll off and begin prospecting its rocky surroundings, NASA officials said.

Further complicating the mission, new images from the spacecraft suggest its landing site is not the pristine dry lake bed scientists originally had hoped.

That implies the robotic explorer's hunt for geologic evidence that the planet once was a wetter place conducive to life might be more difficult than expected.