NASA's Mars rover Spirit has freed itself from the loose soil it had been stuck in for about two weeks, but over the next month it will have to navigate similarly treacherous terrain to reach a safe spot to ride out the coming Martian winter.

Spirit got stuck in the sandy soil, nicknamed "Tartarus" after an underworld dungeon in Greek mythology, in mid-November.

But on 28 November, it clambered out, after a series of short drives in which rover managers drove it first in one direction and then in another, "switchbacking" out of the troublesome spot.

Now, the rover will try to drive about 25 metres to the northern edge of Home Plate, a 90-metre-wide raised plateau that it has been exploring for months. That region boasts relatively steep, northern-tilting slopes that would maximise the sunlight falling on the rover's solar panels during winter in the planet's southern hemisphere (see Mars rover Spirit to head north for the winter).
But Spirit is likely to hit more rough patches on its way to its destination. "During the next few weeks, Spirit's journey to 'Winter Haven 3' is expected to be no less difficult, requiring the rover to manoeuvre across a sandy, rocky valley along the western edge of Home Plate," states an update on the rover website.