Tension mounts on Mars. As we reported last week Spirit’s driving team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are about to begin escape manoeuvres.

A press briefing at NASA yesterday has brought forth a flurry of articles about the rover’s heroics. And the guy that sets the drive commands has a twitter feed that tells us that the rover is going to be driven out the way it went in.

Wired has obviously been following @marsroverdriver’s tweets and had a story earlier this week saying that spirit’s wheel’s had moved by a tiny amount.

So, now we wait and see. It could be months, and even then the rover might not be free. The mood is different depending on where you read it: in the New York Times there is hope, the LA Times feel more “do or die” about it, whereas Science is a bit more gloomy, and predict the end fairly soon.

Whatever happens, NASA can congratulate themselves on a mission that has captured poeples’ imagination, and ensured a place in history for the anthropomorphised rovers.

Image: NASA