Mars rover 'stuck'

The Mars rover Spirit has become stuck in loose soil while ambling around a low plateau, Nasa says.

Spirit, which has five working wheels, slipped during a recent series of backward drives and its wheels were stuck halfway in the ground. Its right front wheel stopped working three years ago.

A team at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory was diagnosing the problem and planned to use a test rover on Earth to try to get Spirit out of its jam.