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Posted by: djellison Jan 23 2009, 09:06 PM

Another drive today, it seems! Take it easy Scott, these sorts of speeds we'll get dizzy!


Doug

Posted by: mhoward Jan 23 2009, 09:25 PM

More of a turn than a drive, I think. It looks like Spirit might be lined up for the attempt now.

Posted by: climber Jan 23 2009, 10:37 PM

Quiz.
Where does the shadow on the LGA come from?

Posted by: centsworth_II Jan 23 2009, 10:42 PM

Since the sun is almost directly above, the shadow comes from the circley things at the top of the LGA itself.

Posted by: sattrackpro Jan 24 2009, 01:12 AM

I'm sure hoping that 'attempt' is successful... if she could just get into some strong winds... there might be more life for her.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jan 24 2009, 01:29 AM

"More of a turn than a drive, I think."

No, I think the RHAZ and FHAZ views make it clear that there was a drive of a few meters at least, at about right angles to the last one, getting close to the shallow slope up onto the plate.

Tesheiner's maps give a great perspective on our two rover pals. The Opportunity map has those 100 m squares, which seem to go by a drive at a time on average. Home Plate, Spirit's home for 1000 sols, would fit in one of those squares.

Phil

Posted by: mhoward Jan 24 2009, 01:36 AM

You're right. The drive data is messed up in MMB for some reason, which threw me off.

Posted by: sattrackpro Jan 24 2009, 01:45 AM

Doug (and all Los Angeles area rover-tracking folk) - this eve, Sat and Sun, there's an opportunity - here's a quote:

At Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, the full-size rover model will be on display in the Depths of Space gallery Jan. 23 through Jan. 25, accompanied by rover team members from JPL. Talks about topics such as how the team drives the rovers and what the rovers have revealed about Mars will be presented in the observatory's Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater. These talks, by JPL rover-team members Al Herrera, Scott Lever, Scott Maxwell, John Callas, Bruce Banerdt and Ashley Stroupe, are scheduled for the following times: 7 p.m. on Jan. 23; 1:30 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Jan. 24; and 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Jan. 25.

For more information about visiting Griffith Observatory, see http://www.griffithobs.org/.

Posted by: sattrackpro Jan 24 2009, 01:49 AM

A P.S. - I'm going (Griffith Observatory) tomorrow at 4PM, events permitting... will post a brief report and a couple of pics, if I get any that might be interesting..

Posted by: Tesheiner Jan 24 2009, 09:29 AM

Almost 7m, if the mobility data is accurate.
And todaytomorrow (sol 17991800) is driving day. Let's see if the attempt is successful.
Edit: Corrected sol number.


Here are both maps at the same scale (1m/pix) so we can see the completely different strategies.

Posted by: djellison Jan 24 2009, 09:29 AM

I'm 6,000 miles away

Posted by: BrianL Jan 24 2009, 04:02 PM

Speaking of thousands, Doug, you are now just two posts away from the 10,000 mark. Will there be a party to celebrate the occasion?

Posted by: peter59 Jan 24 2009, 05:17 PM

Sol 1800 is driving day, not Sol 1799.

Posted by: djellison Jan 24 2009, 05:40 PM

My 30th, MER 5th, UMSF 5th - I think we're doing ok for celebrations right now.

Posted by: Zvezdichko Jan 24 2009, 06:55 PM

By the way did anybody notice that we have microscopic images from Spirit?

Posted by: centsworth_II Jan 24 2009, 09:32 PM

I wonder if Steve Squyres is still interested in taking another look at Fuzzy Smith. It looks like Spirit will be be passing right by it after mounting Home Plate. Does Fuzzy still hold the http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/jsc_homeplate_mars.html

"...loose rocks atop Home Plate include the small, irregularly shaped rock Fuzzy Smith. It has the highest silica content reported to date (May 2007) on the mission. Scientists believe hydrothermal processes "bleached" out the primary elements in the rock, leaving the silica behind."

Posted by: alan Jan 24 2009, 10:31 PM

Dust devil on the horizon
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-01-22/2N284828299ESFAZ89P1561L0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-01-11/2N284828327ESFAZ89P1561L0M1.JPG

near the center moving left to right, flip between images to see

Posted by: nprev Jan 24 2009, 10:34 PM

Alan, I'm not seeing it. Did you accidentally post the same pair of images? The image IDs are the same.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jan 24 2009, 10:47 PM

The IDs are not the same, somewhere in the middle of the ID, and if you flip there is a VERY faint effect - alan has some kind of freaky super-powers to catch that. It's easier to see above the horizon than below it.

Here's a pic made by subtracting one from the other, cancelling out everything except the DD and noise/JPEG artifacts. The arrows point to the two images of it as it moves. The image subtraction leaves one white and the other black.

Phil

Posted by: alan Jan 24 2009, 10:48 PM

Its quite subtle, I only noticed it when watching the slideshow in MMB, its the last two navcam subframes from sol 1785

Posted by: nprev Jan 25 2009, 12:05 AM

Whoa! I stand corrected, and in awe of your powers of discernation, Alan. Some catch!

Posted by: fredk Jan 25 2009, 12:46 AM

Yikes, that's pretty subtle. I had noticed what looks very much like a devil on 1784. Here's a crop of the navcam view. There's no other frame to see the motion of the devil, but at least this one looks kind of like a dd!

Posted by: Enceladus75 Jan 25 2009, 08:17 PM

Well, it's great to finally see Spirit on the move again. Let's hope one or two of those dust devils she's seeing will come on over and give her solar panels a much needed cleaning off. Here''s hoping....

Posted by: alan Jan 26 2009, 06:16 AM

I see a couple more in the sol 1799 navcam subframes. The 2009 dustdevil season is underway.

On another note Spirit, at sol 1801, is now beyond 20x the primary mission.

Posted by: Oersted Jan 26 2009, 11:02 AM

It is terrible, every time I see the thread title ("Leaving WH3 Behind") I am thinking of Spinal Tap singing "How could I leave this ...behiiiiind" Sorry! http://www.geocities.com/ironwallcoleman/songs/bottom.htm

Posted by: imipak Jan 26 2009, 06:13 PM

That song's probably more relevant to MSL

Posted by: sci44 Jan 27 2009, 11:07 PM

But you will need to turn the amplifier up a little bit more past 10 when you play it.
This image just in from the OPPY navcam..



Perhaps this will answer important scientific questions, such as "who they were" and "what they were doin' "..

(also.. Sorry!)

Posted by: ngunn Jan 27 2009, 11:14 PM

Nah - that's obviously a natural formation. Nothing to get excited about.

Posted by: BrianL Jan 28 2009, 04:38 AM

Back to reality...

Did Spirit just have an un-drive? The new pictures look like post-drive imaging, but she didn't seem to move a mm.

Posted by: Shaka Jan 28 2009, 06:24 AM

Give a gal a break! http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-01-27/2N286338395EFFAZCJP1765R0M1.JPG
She came down off HP; didn't like it, and now is headed back up!
Next stop Fuzzy Smith!
Hee Ha! ! Big wheel keep on turnin'

Posted by: Stu Jan 28 2009, 06:58 AM

Nice view down onto the plain...

Posted by: Tesheiner Jan 28 2009, 07:37 AM

There's a series of sun-finding images taken prior to the "post-drive" ones. My 2c goes on that Spirit coudn't track the sun and fine-tune its attitude data so the drive was aborted.

Posted by: Oersted Jan 28 2009, 11:00 PM

Uh-oh:

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090128-spirit-rover-glitch.html

Always frightening when an elderly person has a health scare...

Posted by: dvandorn Jan 29 2009, 03:24 AM

Hmmm... Spirit had a problem on Sol 1800?

Maybe it's good that we will almost definitely never see Sol 18000...

-the other Doug

Posted by: elakdawalla Jan 29 2009, 03:45 AM

Funny. Did anything untoward happen on sol 180?

By the way, the original release has been amended:

Posted by: CosmicRocker Jan 29 2009, 06:06 AM

There is at least another to be seen in the sequence from sol 1803. These early vortices seem to be too far away to be helpful in the short term

It's difficult for me to imagine how "18" could be digitally significant. Still, it does appear to be an unusual coincidence. I don't like to see any kind of weird stuff going on in my personal computers, let alone those onboard any of my favorite Martians.

Posted by: dvandorn Jan 29 2009, 06:38 AM

Not sure... let's see, Spirit arrived at the Columbia Hills on Sol 156, right? So this would be 24 sols later... right around then I think they were finishing up work on Pot'o'Gold and were planning a drive to the north face of Husband. Sounds about right, anyway.

Is there a sol-by-sol record that would give any details on Sol 180? (If I were awake enough, I'd figure 180 sols out from landing day and look at UMSF posts from the day... )

-the other Doug

Posted by: jamescanvin Jan 29 2009, 08:42 AM

Looks like everything went fine back at sol 180

Although a hiccup meant sol 181 was wasted



And that drive was to get to 'engineering flats' to try and fix the lubrication problem with the front-right wheel.

Now back to sol 1800

Posted by: djellison Jan 29 2009, 11:17 AM

Maybe I've missed something - what does this have to do with Sol 180.

Posted by: jamescanvin Jan 29 2009, 11:41 AM

Nothing.

Just investigating oDoug's thought, and Emily's follow-up, that Spirit has a problem with sols numbered 18 x 10^n (n = whole number)

Posted by: BrianL Jan 29 2009, 09:30 PM

I'm wondering... Did we jinx Spirit by the topic subject? Perhaps changing it to a more neutral Post-WH3 Activities might remove the curse?

Posted by: jamescanvin Jan 29 2009, 10:42 PM

A couple of recent mosaics...

'Mustang': sol 1798

http://www.nivnac.co.uk/mer/index.php/a1798

'Martian Chronicles': sols 1801 & 1804

http://www.nivnac.co.uk/mer/index.php/a1798

Both images link to the same page.

Posted by: Stu Jan 30 2009, 06:48 AM

Tearing up the place again...

Posted by: fredk Jan 30 2009, 02:42 PM

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20090128a.html

Posted by: Stu Jan 31 2009, 09:02 AM

Think this shows really well just how poor Spirit's wheel is being dragged through the dirt...

Of course the stuck wheel turned out to be a good thing, 'cos it exposed that luvverly silica-rich deposit, but still... can't help thinking "Awww...."

Posted by: Geert Jan 31 2009, 11:35 AM

If I'm correct they had a method on the old Soviet Lunochod moonrovers to fire some pyro's and basically cut the axis connecting the wheel with the motor, in case the thing got stuck, leaving the wheel to turn freely. It is a pity nothing like that exists on MER, I guess driving would be a lot easier if the wheel just could turn freely..

Regards,

Geert

Posted by: Stu Jan 31 2009, 12:41 PM

Really? I would NOT like to be the person responsible for either writing the code for that pyro, or pushing the button to fire it...!

Spirit's doing just fine, I think, dragging her wheel like a lame puppy dragging a leg. It's just one of the - many - reasons why we adore her so much.

(Cue cries of "It's just a robot!!!!!" hahahahaha...)

Posted by: Tesheiner Jan 31 2009, 07:09 PM

It's today (1806). Fingers crossed and let's see what happens.

Posted by: alan Feb 1 2009, 04:49 AM

short move
before: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2009-01-30/2F286609629EFFAZCLP1154R0M1.JPG
after: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2009-01-31/2F286696020EFFAZDHP1214R0M1.JPG

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 1 2009, 04:52 AM

Yes, just positioning for the final climb, I think.

Phil

Posted by: imipak Feb 1 2009, 03:44 PM

Another dust devil: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-01-31/2N286070542ESFAZCJP1561L0M1.JPG (and moving faintly across the next few images I think?)

Posted by: CosmicRocker Feb 2 2009, 06:57 AM

Yep, apparently a slight change in trajectory prior to a hopeful HPI (Home Plate Insertion), I think.

Is it only me, or are these whirlwinds approaching more closely, more recently?

Posted by: djellison Feb 2 2009, 08:30 AM

I don't think they're moving 'this way'. Just more of them as the season moves on, thus more chance of seeing one that is closer than before.

Posted by: sattrackpro Feb 2 2009, 05:47 PM

My thought is that Spirit should move toward a spot where a cleaning would be most likely. Can you recall instances of winds moving over Home Plate, and how many 'cleaning' events took place while there? (My memory is faulty, but I can vaguely remember only one.)

Maybe that isn't an option, but if closer to full power could be restored, I think the possibility of getting to 'the promised land' - or nearer to it - could be again looked at.

Posted by: djellison Feb 2 2009, 06:43 PM

They're too random and rare to be stated as likely at X location. We're less than 25m from where we had significant cleaning a year ago. We've had them in the hills, we've had them on the slopes, we've had them on the flat.

Posted by: BrianL Feb 3 2009, 03:46 AM

According to the latest update, more of an unlucky encounter:

The drive on Sol 1806 covered about 30 centimeters (1 foot). The rover team had planned a longer drive, but Spirit stopped short, apparently from the right front wheel encountering the partially buried rock visible next to that wheel.

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 3 2009, 08:48 AM

There's another attempt in today's schedule (1809).

Posted by: RobertEB Feb 3 2009, 02:06 PM

Replaced in-line image with a link - Mod

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/1806/2N286694146EFFAZDHP0713L0M1.JPG

Nice shot.

Those solar panels really need a cleaning

Posted by: fredk Feb 3 2009, 03:44 PM

Also in the http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20090202a.html

Maybe, to anthropomorphize our friend Spirit, she's feeling a little dizzy after being tilted at wh3 for so long and then abruptly returning to level ground.

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 4 2009, 06:59 AM

Some fresh images on the web from sol 1809. Spirit is inching her way to the top of Home Plate.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2009-02-03/2R286959578EFFAZE4P1314R0M1.JPG

Posted by: fredk Feb 4 2009, 09:29 PM

There's some very interesting information in the new batch of Spirit updates. In http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_spiritAll_2008.html#sol1763 it says:

It appears they tried this not long before sol 1772, according to this quote:

This must be the explanation for the dust movement on the solar panels that we talked about at the time! Looking at those images again, it does appear that the dust movement is consistent with the downslope direction.

Didn't someone on UMSF suggest they try something like this?

Posted by: Shaka Feb 4 2009, 09:40 PM

I suggested they lean the IDD arm on the edge of the solar array, and spin the RAT or brush. I wouldn't have expected this to work with the wheels because they are too well balanced and turn too slowly. Who knows? Wear and tear on the RAT should have thrown it out of balance by now.

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 4 2009, 09:42 PM

Apart from "why didn't you include windshield wipers on the deck" this is probably the most common question I get asked ;-)

Paolo

Posted by: fredk Feb 4 2009, 10:31 PM

I'd think that the middle wheels were contacting the ground at this time, so even though they spin slowly and are well balanced, you could get abrupt jolts to the rover, for example when a wheel cleat loses contact with a piece of rock and the wheel suddenly drops down a bit.

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 5 2009, 01:13 AM

That's what I would have expected. Alas the accelerometers reported very little shaking even when all 5 wheels were moving.

Paolo

Posted by: djellison Feb 5 2009, 10:52 AM

Who knew that we'd need to turn up the motors to 11 to shake dust off arrays

Posted by: Oersted Feb 5 2009, 02:08 PM

And here's the reference for that reference...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d54UU-fPIsY

Posted by: diane Feb 5 2009, 03:07 PM

When the dust on the solar panels starts forming into dunes, then we'll know we're in trouble.

Posted by: Shaka Feb 6 2009, 03:20 AM

Well, now that you mention it, Diane...http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-02-05/2N287143392EFFAZFFP0695L0M1.JPG

Posted by: nprev Feb 6 2009, 05:21 AM

Boy howdy...A beautiful yet disturbing shot. May random chance favor her with one hell of an opportune gust...

Posted by: Stu Feb 6 2009, 10:33 AM

Is that the offending "partly buried rock" over there, among all the torn-up dirt..?

Posted by: mhoward Feb 6 2009, 04:15 PM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marscat/3257638925/sizes/l/
Sol 1811 116x90 degree perspective projection

Posted by: Floyd Feb 9 2009, 06:28 PM

Looks like we are almost up. Some slipping, but almost there.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-02-09/2N287318282EFFAZJAP1925L0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2009-02-09/2R287318809EFFAZJAP1314L0M1.JPG

Posted by: BrianL Feb 9 2009, 09:07 PM

With the mad dash across HP set to begin soon (he says with hope), the question comes to mind...

Do we know there is a safe way down off HP at the south end?

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 10 2009, 12:19 AM

I Google Marsed that issue and it looks like a nice slope down at the junction between the plate and the ridge along its southern side. That area was imaged in stereo to plan a descent, on sol 1348-50.

Phil

Posted by: fredk Feb 10 2009, 12:33 AM

I could see at least a few good routes off of HP. At the southernmost part of HP, there's basically no dropoff as you exit from HP.

The first exit route is between Low and SW ridges (see Tesheiner's map). Here's the view from sol 1337; we'd go straight into the middle of this view and then turn to the right:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/1337/2N245061350EFFAVFUP0716R0M1.JPG

The second is just west of the high point of SW ridge, though it's a bit hard to know what the south side of SW ridge will be like. This route would be into the left side of this frame:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/1337/2N245061516EFFAVFUP0716R0M1.JPG

Finally, a twist on the previous route would be to go a bit farther west and taste the outcrop rock of "the saddle":
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/1347/2N245949997EFFAVJAP1907R0M1.JPG

Posted by: Gray Feb 10 2009, 05:50 PM

Now there's an awkward verb.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 10 2009, 05:53 PM

Awkward, maybe - but I wanted to be the first person to use it.

Phil

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 11 2009, 09:09 AM

Ouch! Getting on top of HP won't be an easy task.
Last drive moved the rover just a few cms and the LF wheel started to dig in the sand.
http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2009-02-09/2R287318809EFFAZJAP1314R0M1.JPG -> http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2009-02-11/2R287580890EFFAZL8P1314R0M1.JPG

Posted by: Floyd Feb 11 2009, 01:04 PM

Paolo--can you give us some expert insight? Spirit will have front wheels on the top in only 2 to 3 feet of driving. Do you plan to keep moving slowly ahead even with the digging in, or will some more complex maneuver be necessary?

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 11 2009, 02:13 PM

I have to look at the entire telemetry before I can suggest a course of action but the FHAZ does not look good.

Paolo

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 11 2009, 02:21 PM

The rover's positioning data (x, y, z) suggest it was expected to drive about 60cm but moved only 10cm. 85% slip factor.

Posted by: Stu Feb 11 2009, 02:24 PM

Latest 3D view... nice depth of field in this one, I think...

http://stugallery.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/feb11-spirit.jpg

Posted by: BrianL Feb 11 2009, 03:34 PM

Would the lay of the land permit a more angled approach, much as Oppy needed to get out of Eagle crater?

Posted by: Floyd Feb 11 2009, 04:51 PM

Thanks Paolo. You know there are a few thousand back seat drivers here, so we really appreciate getting the thoughts of a real driver.

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 11 2009, 08:19 PM

That's what we are trying to do. Climb cross-slope. It worked in Tartarus, not sure if it will work here. We'll see what happens next.

Paolo

Posted by: BrianL Feb 11 2009, 09:24 PM

I suspect the Principles of Universal Balance (I've long been a supporter of PUBs) are at play here. Oppy's incredible driving success is being balanced by Spirit's futility. If you were to hobble Oppy's progress surreptitiously so the universe does not realize what you are up to, then Spirit might be allowed to move more freely.

I think it's worth a try.

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 11 2009, 11:32 PM

#include <std-smileys.h>

Hey, hey, hey! Who are you calling futile! When was the last time you tried to tow a caravan uphill on a 20 degrees slope , parking brake set ... with a MOPED?

Paolo

Posted by: mhoward Feb 12 2009, 06:49 PM

HOORAY! Only http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20090212a.html, but we'll take it! Via marsroverdriver

Posted by: CosmicRocker Feb 13 2009, 06:11 AM

Hurrah! It may be only 30 additional WHrs, but the boost apparently doubles our discretionary spending allotment.

Thanks for that welcomed news.

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 13 2009, 08:57 AM

On the other hand, today's images are not good at all. The LF wheel is still sinking...
http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2009-02-13/2F287761526EFFAZODP1214R0M1.JPG

Here's an animated gif with the pictures from the last three driving sols.

Posted by: BrianL Feb 13 2009, 03:26 PM

Speaking firmly entrenched in the back seat, Paolo...

What about heading for Fred's mentioned exit point by staying off HP, rounding the horn and zipping down Silica Valley? Is this route under consideration?

Posted by: djellison Feb 13 2009, 03:51 PM

We are currently on the route previously used to get to Silica Valley. We cut the corner of Home Plate back in the Sol 767-774 range. That was, of course, before we had the FR failure.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-spirit/images/MERA_A906_3.jpg

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 13 2009, 05:55 PM

Yes, we are evaluating it. *my* worries with that path is that a large part of this traverse is unknown. The NE corner of HP is not fully covered by NCAM and PCAM, but mostly south of Silica Valley, west of Tyrone it is an are where we only have HiRISE coverage, no surface imaging and in order to get surface imaging we would need to drive close to the SE corner of HP. And in that case you are pretty much committed to that route. So it represent a risk.

This is my personal view.

Paolo

PS: I don't mind the back seat driving at all. It might be that most of the ideas are already under consideration, but it just takes *one* good idea from you guys to make a difference.

Posted by: Fran Ontanaya Feb 13 2009, 08:30 PM

Heh. Can Spirit climb rocking like a lizard? That would be funny.

Posted by: Stu Feb 13 2009, 09:34 PM

Nice view of Spirit's tracks around Homeplate - and yep, that wheel looks a bit chuttered up...

http://stugallery.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/feb13.jpg

Posted by: fredk Feb 16 2009, 11:10 PM

On sol 1820 Spirit moved a bit back downslope:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2009-02-16/2F287943327EFFAZOLP1214L0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2009-02-16/2R287943393EFFAZOLP1314R0M1.JPG
I wonder what's next...

Posted by: Geert Feb 17 2009, 04:23 PM

Homeplate area through same mathematical filters I used for oppy. Green is good driving, blue is more difficult driving, and red is danger. Offcourse, which one wheel less criteria will be somewhat different for Spirit, but at least it gives the relative values. Red lines on top and bottom of image are processing artifacts.



'Dust-filter' as used for Oppy, red notes dusty/sandy area's, however not sure whether this will work out similar on the homeplate area as it does on Meridiani...

Regards,

Geert

Posted by: fredk Feb 17 2009, 04:49 PM

Thanks for these, Geert. Could you summarize what signals you're plotting - FT, variance, etc? And how do you try to detect dust?

Indeed the interpretation is very different for Spirit. Recall that she drove up onto HP on sol 1306, with broken wheel, through a patch you've coloured red...

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 17 2009, 04:57 PM

This is quite interesting indeed. The climb on HP on 1306 was on an area that was bedrock and in this plot it is colored green. I do not believe Geert took into account the slopes in this plot, just the terrain type (correct?). That is why we were able to move about Silica Valley while it is painted in red for example.

Paolo

Posted by: fredk Feb 17 2009, 06:28 PM

Sorry, I was a bit sloppy in my previous post: the spot we climbed onto HP on 1306 is red in Geert's first image above (just within thin red patch on edge of HP), and green in his second (dust?) map.

Posted by: Geert Feb 18 2009, 01:27 AM

Correct Paolo, slopes are not taken into account. The filters take as input normal (Red) terrain brightness as measured by HiRise, IR brightness as measured by CRISM, Night IR from THEMIS, and variance and variation per grid from HiRISE, basically I use a lot of different mathematical 'filters' each tuned to a specific type of terrain (they all take the same input but the 'mix' is different), however as I mentioned this plot should be treated with a lot of caution as I did not 'fine-tune' them for Gusev, all settings are for Meridiani which is very different terrain, this is especially true for the second plot ("dust filter") which at Meridiani gives a reasonable good idea on the amount of sand/dust and expected wheel resistance but I'm far from sure it works that way also at Gusev under different terrain. In the second plot, 'red' does not necessarily mean 'bad', it just means that there is a lot of sand/dust.

Still, even though the colors might not have exactly the same meaning as they have at Meridiani, both plots together give at least a general 'feel' of the terrain when taken together, terrain with a certain color combination might be comparable to terrain with the same combination elsewhere in the image.

Regards,

Geert

Posted by: fredk Feb 18 2009, 02:55 PM

Repositioning for one more attempt?

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2009-02-18/2F288213407EFFAZQWP1212L0M1.JPG

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 18 2009, 03:48 PM

Correct.

Paolo

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 20 2009, 10:25 AM

Let me give a little "bump" to this thread...
The http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status_spiritAll.html#sol1817 contains this small note: "Another small dust-cleaning event on Sol 1820 (February 14, 2009) -- the second one this month -- improved solar-array performance by an additional 10 percent."

Posted by: fredk Feb 20 2009, 03:27 PM

Good news about the cleaning event!

Unfortunately the sol 1825 drive attempt seems to have been not very successful:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2009-02-20/2F288388011EFFAZV1P1212L0M1.JPG

Posted by: BrianL Feb 20 2009, 08:03 PM

So near, and yet so far. That's got to be disappointing. If the Silica Valley route is too much of an unknown, maybe back to the previous 5-wheel ascent point on sol 1306?

Posted by: Stu Feb 20 2009, 10:21 PM

That wheel looks pretty well dug-in...

http://stugallery.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/sp20.jpg

Posted by: Juramike Feb 20 2009, 10:48 PM

"Boy you done look likes you gots yourself stuck into some http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_sand."

This is the part where we need a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J9W9MkQNdE&feature=related (they live for those moments, BTW)

Posted by: djellison Feb 22 2009, 06:21 PM

Very little progress with the last drive - more churning - but the FL wheels seems to be back up on the surface. Rear Left did a LOT of churning. Not sure which way we'll go - but if Scott is right .. http://twitter.com/marsroverdriver/status/1236828620 .. we might be making a different route.

Posted by: JayB Feb 23 2009, 08:48 PM

Hi all,

New posting here but have been following along for a couple of months. Wish I'd found this years ago.

Wondering if anyone noticed the DD in images

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-02-22/2N288117234ESFAZOLP1560L0M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-02-22/2N288206698ESFAZOLP1560L0M1.JPG

the DD in the second one looks to me to reach all the way to top of frame. (lens artifact?). Anyone else see that? I tried some image processing but the esf resolution isn't enough to get much out of it (to my skills anyways)

my little homegrown image name converter tells me these are from sol 1820-21.

They're from http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-02-22/ .

Not sure my sol converter algorithm is working correctly although it seems "close".

2N288117234ESFAZOLP1560L0M1.JPG
Craft : Spirit Camera: NAVCAM Sol: 1820 ImgType: ESF Site Location: AZ
Drive Number: OL Command Seq: P156 Camera Eye: L Camera Filter: 0

2N288206698ESFAZOLP1560L0M1.JPG
Craft : Spirit Camera: NAVCAM Sol: 1821 ImgType: ESF Site Location: AZ
Drive Number: OL Command Seq: P156 Camera Eye: L Camera Filter: 0

Posted by: fredk Feb 23 2009, 09:12 PM

Welcome to UMSF, Jay!

What algorithm do you use for your name decoder? I'm getting two sols later for both images. Probably the best decoder out there is at
http://www.greuti.ch/oppy/html/filenames_ltst.htm
You can read lot's of details in http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=4427

Posted by: HughFromAlice Feb 23 2009, 09:23 PM

Always nice to get a welcome --------so welcome, from another relative new comer!!

I don't get much time to go the original pics and so find D Muller's time clocks very handy for keeping up to date with where Spirit and Oppy are http://www.dmuller.net/realtime/mars.php. According to his clock Spirit is currently at Sol: 1829 Local time: 01:34:42

I noticed that FredK posted a comment at the top of this page about Sol1825 looking like an unsuccessful drive.

Keep posting!!

Hugh

Posted by: JayB Feb 23 2009, 10:26 PM

a wrong one apparently

my first attempt was rounding down, giving me 1820, newest is doing a logical round so I'm now getting 1821

I used utc of 01/20/2004 13:56 (landing) converted to seconds, utc of 01/01/2000 11:58 (mission clock start) did a date diff in seconds between (flight time) subtracted flight time from image seconds and divided by 88775

I just read that the mer missions started with sol 1 and not sol 0 so if I add 1 sol I get 1822

so it works

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 24 2009, 10:17 AM

We should know in a few hours but I believe we are leaving the area. The hint is that the navcam mosaic included at the end of today's drive is pointed at 0 degrees and that's almost opposite to HP.

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 24 2009, 10:32 AM

Yep, apparently the terrain seems not suitable to climb on HP. Hopefully we will be able to turn around and drive away from this mess.

Paolo

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 24 2009, 01:22 PM

If we can trust the IMU data, Spirit moved 5+ meters towards the west.
Now, looking forward the pictures to confirm/adjust this value.

Posted by: mhoward Feb 24 2009, 02:41 PM

I kind of wanted to see the west route anyway. Still, this is sobering, isn't it.

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 24 2009, 02:59 PM

Q&D navcam mosaic from today's (sol 1829) images.

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Feb 24 2009, 03:02 PM

I get the feeling that New Horizons is going to arrive at Pluto before Spirit arrives at Von Braun.

Posted by: fredk Feb 24 2009, 03:05 PM

It does look like a good drive to the NW. It's always easier to make progress when you're trying to move downslope!

And it looks like a monster DD was caught in rear hazcam:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2009-02-24/2R288739890EFFAZW5P1301R0M1.JPG

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 24 2009, 03:26 PM

No, that's the tow truck in the distance.

Phil

Posted by: mhoward Feb 24 2009, 03:36 PM

This way, this way...

Posted by: ngunn Feb 24 2009, 03:41 PM

Tsiolkovsky before Goddard and von Braun - very fitting.

Posted by: alan Feb 24 2009, 06:20 PM

nice job maneuvering the stuck wheel between those rocks

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2009-02-24/2F288744398EFFAZWEP1214R0M1.JPG

Posted by: BrianL Feb 24 2009, 09:00 PM

Yes, valuable time has been lost trying to conquer the north face of Everest. C'est la vie...

I'm wondering if they are going to continue west, or was this just to back up onto some known good ground before heading east? Perhaps through Silica Valley, perhaps another climb spot?

Posted by: mhoward Feb 24 2009, 09:33 PM

As Doug http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=5771&view=findpost&p=136037, the route they were attempting was essentially the same one that got us over to Silica Valley the first time. There is no other direct route to Silica Valley that I am aware of. That route is hardly the north face of Everest, but it appears to be closed to us now, presumably due to the failure of the right front wheel. It is that observation that I was referring to as "sobering." It is a painful dose of reality: Spirit just can no longer climb, or even drive, like she used to. We knew that, but didn't want the reminder.

Still, I'm sure Spirit will carry on. Hers has never been the easy path, yet look how far she's come.

I would actually be curious to see what happened if she tried tackling HP head-on again, rather than obliquely, but at a point where it's not so steep. (In other words, turn hard left and just gun it ) Based on what's been said though, I'm not expecting to see that.

Posted by: mhoward Feb 24 2009, 11:11 PM

Correction: On closer inspection, it looks like the route they were attempting around sol 1827 actually was the "around to the east" route - which actually is about as high as Home Plate itself. (And which had never been attempted before, AFAIK.) And they couldn't make it there, either. So no, I'd be really surprised to see them head back east again. But Paolo can correct me if necessary

Posted by: fredk Feb 24 2009, 11:41 PM

It appears to have been the loose soil that defeated Spirit on this latest attempt to climb onto HP, rather than the steepness. If there were a rocky slope on the north side of HP, significantly less steep than WH3, then perhaps that would be worth a try. As we keep pointing out, she made it up on sol 1306 with five good wheels.

Posted by: mhoward Feb 24 2009, 11:55 PM

The more I look at the map and the anaglyphs, the more a trip wayyy around to the north and then east might be an option after all. The area is covered in the latest Navcams. But it's a hard route, and it seems like a long way around, and then they'd still have to get back up onto HP somewhere over there. I know they've done it once with the busted wheel, but that might have been a fluke.

OK, no more worrying - back to work for me.

Posted by: BrianL Feb 25 2009, 03:47 AM

Mike has raised some good points in this route debate, but I still think Mike has the stronger position.

Posted by: mhoward Feb 25 2009, 04:58 AM

Yeah, yeah - the point I started with was that retracing the sol 768 route wasn't a waste of time; it might have worked, and was the best option available. As for which way now, I'll look forward to see what they come up with. It looks like there are no longer any easy choices.

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 25 2009, 07:09 AM

That is correct. We tried different strategies and drive directions but the results were the same. We will try to drive around the NE corner of HP next. Snce we do not have good imagery of that area we will try to get NAVCAM and PCAM from a vantage point a bit to the north from here (at least that's what I heard before leaving last week).

Paolo

Posted by: MarkG Feb 25 2009, 04:38 PM

It seems not unreasonable to speculate that the very deep soft soil that foiled the latest attempts to climb atop HP was a loose-dust-filled former wind scour under an overhanging edge of the relatively hard and strong HP layered deposits. (Presumably, the HP mud volcano filled a bowl-shaped depression, either a meteor or explosion crater.) In most cases around HP, the accumulation of regolith from the eroding edge of HP provides some sort of of pavement and packing, but not in the spot Spirit was trying to climb.

Just to the E of Spirit's position is an area of horizontal-lying rock slabs that could be a deposit of "mud lava" outflowing from HP. The satellite pics also seem to show a tongue sticking out N from HP. This could represent an alternate access path onto HP. However, the slabs are quite fragmented, with large chunks of this rock, plus vesiculated boulders, so picking a way through this would be challenging.

Good luck to the Rover Drivers, I do hope to get a better look at Von Braun... (pitcher's mound).

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 25 2009, 05:31 PM

Agree with the description of the area NE of Home Plate; it will be a complicated path, if any... and a little bit uphill too.

BTW, the results of today's drive show that Spirit moved about 3m northwards. Perhaps a little less due to the dragging.

Posted by: mhoward Feb 28 2009, 01:33 AM

Yeah, "definite maybe" on the sneaky eastern route, I'd say. Will be real interesting to see if she can do it, though. I just hope it's less painful to watch than the last attempt.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marscat/3314545065/sizes/l/

Posted by: Hungry4info Feb 28 2009, 02:35 AM

A question about Spirit.

Are there any long term plans to make her go anywhere? She seems to be hanging out at Home Plate all the time. Is moving her too away from the north-facing slopes risky enough to ground her in the area?

Posted by: dvandorn Feb 28 2009, 04:11 AM

My understanding as to why Spirit has not moved much beyond Home Plate is that it's the result of two major factors:

- The loss of the RF wheel, the dragging of which makes it difficult for Spirit to move very far in any one drive, and impossible to climb very much or move through loose, sandy soil. In other words, Spirit can't move very fast or very far in a given period of time.

- The severe loss of power following the global dust storm Spirit barely survived a while back has made it very difficult for her to do much of anything beyond sit quietly and talk to Earth every few days. We've just recently seen some very minor cleaning, but the old girl is still running at less than 300 watt-hours a day, with precious little energy for extensive driving.

Spirit was hobbled by the loss of the wheel shortly after finishing its first major recon of Home Plate, and dust deposition since then has conspired with now-impassable terrain to keep her from moving very far afield since.

-the other Doug

Posted by: mhoward Feb 28 2009, 04:31 AM

They are still trying to get to the interesting features to the south of Home Plate, as far as I've heard. They haven't had much luck getting anywhere so far, due to the issues other Doug mentions. Let's hope that changes. Fingers crossed on this new route they may try next. I have a good feeling about it.

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 28 2009, 08:16 AM

Here's a picture of the current situation.
The background mosaic was taken long time ago, during sols 768-769, when Spirit moved on top of Home Plate on her way to McCool Hill. Those plans would be changed a few weeks later when the RF wheel failed...
I overlayed on it some of the latest sites (in red/yellow) and what I think will be the path around the NE corner (in cyan). I have not clear if they will try to climb HP when back at Silica Valley or if the idea is to do a short cut right at the corner as proposed by MarkG.

Posted by: Stu Feb 28 2009, 10:52 AM

Love the detail on the ground in this new 3D image... particularly love the way the dust has piled up around and inbetween the rocks at bottom left...

http://stugallery.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/rocks-and-dust

Posted by: fredk Feb 28 2009, 03:47 PM

Thanks a lot for that view from atop HP, Tesheiner. That really clarifies the situation. Together with mhoward's anaglyph pan, we can see that we do still have a bit of a climb to get around the NE corner of HP.

Posted by: BrianL Feb 28 2009, 03:55 PM

Yes, that's a great perspective. The west route seems much more appealing having seen this.

Posted by: MarkG Feb 28 2009, 08:37 PM

I'm not so jazzed about the West route. If you look at the pictures of when Spirit was overlooking that area, a lot of that area has dust/sand dunes, and the rover might dig in there, even if going downhill. An impression-by-looks seems like it might have soft spots.

Posted by: RoverDriver Feb 28 2009, 09:59 PM

One big advantage of the western route is that we have surface imaging for almost the entire route to VB. The drawback is that those images show that there are some quite narrow passages and several potential sand traps. The eastern route, if traversable, has the advantage to lead to a known onramp on top of HP, an area that we have traversed extensively. From the sE tip of HP there are several potential paths to VB but some of them are difficult to image. So there are no sure winners here. Each one has some potential show stoppers.

This is ike a good thriller, and while we are the writers, we still have no clue on its ending.

Paolo

Posted by: mhoward Mar 1 2009, 12:14 AM

As an experiment, here's an http://mmb.unmannedspaceflight.com/MERA0768NavcamAna.mov (3.7 MB) of the sol 768 Navcam view. (Caution: prolonged viewing may cause headache, nausea.) It's pretty easy to pick out where we are now using Tesheiner's excellent, helpful mosaic of the same view.

Posted by: Ipparchus Mar 1 2009, 12:08 PM

I `d like to propose a route for Spirit that, I think, could possibly be the the best choice for her to arrive to Goddard and Von Braun easier, faster and safer. After driving east and climbing on the ramp she used on sol 1306 to arrive on Home Plate, she could easily and fast drive on the good terrain of HP and arrive to the south edge where she could find a good ramp (a low-tilt slope) to drive down to the interesting South Promontory, study it, and then continue south (carefully avoiding the dune fields and the dust-rich areas) until she reaches Goddard and then Von Braun (the whole route is represented with a red line).
I think it would be better to study Goddard first because:
a.) if the next Winter Haven is going to be the top of Von Braun then it would not be logical to go to Von Braun , then to Goddard and again to Von Braun (much more road than needed, for nothing),
b.) Goddard seems to be a more interesting target than Von Braun (HP and Von Braun seem to be made of the same material, but Goddard is a unique geological feature), so if something bad happens and Spirit “dies” soon, it would be prefered to have studied Goddard at least.
I also believe that Von Braun would be a perfect Winter Haven because: a.) some north-facing parts of it have a great tilt that Spirit needs for the next winter and b.) the top of it is made of solid rock and that makes it a “warm” place (rock preserves environmental heat longer than soil), appropriate to be a Winter Haven. She could get there before winter comes, after studying Goddard, and study its rock layers as long as her energy levels allow (because of the incoming winter).
Please, tell me your opinions about my proposed route and Winter Haven. I would be grateful to have, also, a comment from Paolo, the Rover Driver.

Posted by: djellison Mar 1 2009, 01:11 PM

That's the plan. If it doesn't work - they'll try the west route.

Posted by: ngunn Mar 1 2009, 01:31 PM

Last winter the desired tilt was obtained by driving down off Home Plate, a move which proved immpossible to reverse. Getting to a steep perch from above looks more problematic at von Braun.

Posted by: HughFromAlice Mar 1 2009, 02:08 PM

300 watt-hours a day AND driving with a jammed wheel. I have to keep pinching myself - Phenomenal what has been learned and how much the rover teams have achieved!!!!!!

I'm wondering about the longer the dust remains on the panels - will it start (chemically) bonding into a layer of grime (for want of a better word) that gets harder to remove over time?

Hope not. Hope those transient cleaning event winds can blow most of it off.

Posted by: HughFromAlice Mar 1 2009, 02:23 PM

Just after I posted I had a quick check to see if AJS Rayl's monthly Rover Report was on the TPS web site.

Don't have time to read her whole article but I saw this near the beginning (para 6) !!! .......""Way back, years ago, anything under 300 watt-hours, we assumed we would be dead," reflected MER team member Steve Ruff, of Arizona State University. "We broke through this 250-watt barrier and now everyone's all excited because we've got close to 300 watt-hours." http://www.planetary.org/news/2009/0228_Mars_Exploration_Rovers_Update_Spirit.html

Things sure have come a long way! Exciting and a privilege to watch it all unfold in real time!

Posted by: fredk Mar 1 2009, 04:44 PM

This bit from the new PS report caught my eye:

That's a surprize to me: the east side of Crossfield is not the most direct route to vB/G, the west side is direct. Perhaps the east side looks more drivable or has potential science targets.

Posted by: djellison Mar 1 2009, 05:06 PM

Why would taking the known option - the place where we know we can get onto HP with 5 wheel drive - be a surprise?

There's odometer directness, and chronologic directness

Posted by: fredk Mar 1 2009, 05:25 PM

I suppose I wasn't very clear with my comment: It's no surprize to aim for the 1306 onramp (I've been pointing it out for some time). What's surprizing is the route that the quote describes south of HP. Crossfield is the roughly HP-sized feature to the SSE of HP, labelled http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-spirit/spirit-sol1353.html for example. You can see from that map that the east side of Crossfield is a longer route than the west side, in travelling from the south end of HP to vB/G.

Posted by: djellison Mar 1 2009, 05:45 PM

OK - I get you now. I think we're probably reading too much into what remains a month or two away at least.

Posted by: mhoward Mar 1 2009, 05:48 PM

That is news to me also, but it may make some sense. There are areas the other way that have a bit of that "Tyrone deathtrap" look about them, and "Crossfield" looks like it may be a good incidental target in its own right.

My, aren't we having fun on Mars, in extreme slow motion.

Posted by: fredk Mar 1 2009, 06:38 PM

I'd agree with ngunn that there are some pretty steep slopes out there and we likely would have a lot of trouble navigating them with five wheels.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/1348/2N246040788EFFAVLFP0727R0M1.JPG shows both the steepness of Von Braun and how difficult it would be to drive onto S. Promontory/Saddle from the west. I think we might be able to taste the Saddle, but we'd have to take a more direct route from the S. end of HP.

It will be interesting to see how much progress we can make at VB/G.

Posted by: mhoward Mar 3 2009, 05:07 PM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marscat/3325461639/sizes/l/
Spirit sol 1833, 180x90 degree Navcam equirectangular projection centered on east.

Posted by: Tesheiner Mar 3 2009, 09:07 PM

Fresh pics from sol 1836 on the usual place: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-03-03/
And the NE path to Silica Valley will not be an easy one. Check this RHAZ image:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2009-03-03/2R289365226EFFB0A1P1313R0M1.JPG

Posted by: mhoward Mar 3 2009, 09:30 PM

The last two drives, including sol 1836, have seen Spirit basically drifting left (left, that is, facing the direction the rover is driving, which is backwards). I'm guessing that was not the desired result. So, not looking good.

But maybe one or two more attempts to come?

Posted by: Stu Mar 4 2009, 12:54 AM

Rocks on a ridge... can't beat 'em...

Posted by: mhoward Mar 4 2009, 10:51 PM

Looks like she backed up/turned right tosol (1837). Lining up for another try, I suspect.

Posted by: BrianL Mar 5 2009, 01:35 AM

Now might be a good time to unveil the secret JATO module they've been holding in reserve.

Posted by: Stu Mar 6 2009, 11:40 AM

Latest 3D view of Spirit's surroundings...

http://cumbriansky.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/spmar6.jpg

Lovely depth of field again, I think. Who wouldn't love to wander around all those ridges and dips, just drinking in the view..?

Posted by: BrianL Mar 6 2009, 04:52 PM

Stu, that's bordering dangerously on talk of manned spaceflight.

Posted by: mhoward Mar 6 2009, 09:43 PM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marscat/3334123438/sizes/l/
Spirit sols 1837 & 1839 - two positions combined into one Navcam panorama.
http://mmb.unmannedspaceflight.com/MERA1837_1839Navcam.mov (2.7MB)

Kind of tells the whole story after Winter Haven, to date. Well almost, anyway; it doesn't capture the turn on sol 1839.

Posted by: Tesheiner Mar 6 2009, 09:44 PM

Today's downlink has really nice pictures; the atmosphere is quite clear making the view of the walls of Gusev crater really beautiful. (Stu, you will like those ones)
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2009-03-06/

What puzzles me is that these navcam images taken after a drive are usually pointing towards the planned path, so ... are we no longer going to the NE corner but to the West Valley?

Posted by: mhoward Mar 6 2009, 09:48 PM

I'm guessing they wanted to capture a whole Navcam pan, but also needed to keep moving.

Posted by: Tesheiner Mar 7 2009, 09:59 AM

You are right.
http://twitter.com/marsroverdriver/status/1289617057 that mosaic wasn't taken for drive planning purposes. And looking to today's imaging plan, the drive attempts by the NE path keep going.

01841::p0665::03::10::0::0::10::0::20::navcam_5x1_az_108_3_bpp
01841::p1201::22::2::0::0::2::0::4::front_haz_penultimate_1_bpp_pri_17
01841::p1214::05::2::0::0::2::0::4::front_hazcam_ultimate_4_bpp
01841::p1301::09::2::0::0::2::0::4::penultimate_rear_hazcam_pri_17
01841::p1314::00::2::0::0::2::0::4::rear_haz_ultimate_4bpp_pri15

Posted by: Ant103 Mar 7 2009, 12:27 PM

A little old, but a pano on the very dusty solar panels of Spirit
http://www.db-prods.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/sol1820-dustydeck-and-solar.jpg

Posted by: vikingmars Mar 7 2009, 10:51 PM

FULL INLINE QUOTE REMOVED - ADMIN
Welcome back Fourmi 103 !!!

Posted by: Ant103 Mar 7 2009, 11:49 PM

Wow, Olivier en personne who said me welcome back! Thanks

Sol 1837 mosaic, toward the Gusev's flats :
http://www.db-prods.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/sol1837-pano.jpg

Posted by: climber Mar 8 2009, 12:23 AM

Peut être moins "spectaculaire", mais j'apprécie aussi beaucoup le retour...
C'est bien ça le "Big event", eh?
Hi to Olivier, aussi...

Posted by: BrianL Mar 9 2009, 04:00 AM

Oh, http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2009-03-08/2R289807120EFFB0DOP1314R0M1.JPG doesn't look promising.

Posted by: lyford Mar 9 2009, 04:26 AM

Poor Spirit - having to work for every meter these days....

Posted by: Norm Hartnett Mar 9 2009, 04:53 PM

All these panaramas of Gusev by Spirit over the last few years remind me of something I read half a century ago.

"I seemed to be lying in a deep, circular basin, along the outer verge of which I could distinguish the irregularities of low hills."
John Carter of Mars as related by Edgar Rice Burroughs in "A Princess of Mars" - 1912.

Posted by: vikingmars Mar 11 2009, 11:06 AM

Oui, Climber et Fourmi 103, j'apprécie bcp votre travail sur Mars, d'autant plus que je suis actuellement assez indisponible pour ça, étant -comme vs le savez- sur la Lune... et prépare activement le prochain Paris Air Show sur le thème Apollo avec l'AéCF !

Posted by: Ant103 Mar 11 2009, 01:25 PM

Okay Olivier , ça fait plaisir

So, I've made a trip on Mars to clean the solar panel, it's not perfect but I think it's good

Posted by: BrianL Mar 11 2009, 03:59 PM

http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2009-03-10/2R289984455EFFB0EOP1314R0M1.JPG

I hope the latest mini-move is an attempt at extrication to head west, and not a continued attempt to head NE. This route seems as problematic as the previous ones, and time is running out to get where they want to be and get some good science done before the autumn chill is felt on the breeze. Speaking of which, I wonder what hope there is for the next winter haven. Climbing a 30 degree slope just doesn't look feasible anymore unless they luck upon a very firm or rocky surface at VB/G.

Posted by: djellison Mar 11 2009, 05:12 PM

Hopefully they will be able to find somewhere like they did with WH3 - somewhere you can drive to, then drive 'off' to get a slope.

D

Posted by: Oersted Mar 12 2009, 12:45 PM

All that way for a less than thorough cleaning?! - Hilarious image, thx!

Posted by: fredk Mar 12 2009, 02:00 PM

http://twitter.com/marsroverdriver/status/1311456042

Posted by: climber Mar 14 2009, 02:17 AM

Lot of new pictures there: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2009-03-13/
what a trafic spot.

And what is that material on the right ????

Posted by: Tesheiner Mar 14 2009, 09:44 AM

Probably soil disturbed by the wheels.
Do you have a link to put the picture into context?

Posted by: Stu Mar 14 2009, 10:26 AM

Colourised view from same set...

Posted by: climber Mar 14 2009, 10:39 AM

Yep, first picture of the link I posted above. Here it is again: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2009-03-13/

Posted by: Stu Mar 15 2009, 08:02 AM

3D version of previous view...

http://cumbriansky.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/messy-spirit

Posted by: Stu Mar 15 2009, 01:40 PM

Some beautiful layering visible in this colourised image of the edge of Homeplate...

http://stugallery.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/close-up-of-homeplate

Posted by: BrianL Mar 15 2009, 02:56 PM

Is this rear hazcam sequence the "clever trick"?
http://nasa.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2009-03-14/

Posted by: CosmicRocker Mar 16 2009, 05:04 AM

Hmm... What else could it be. I first noticed that sequence of right-rear hazcam shots tonight. I was not able to perceive the rock poised to fall inside the wheel's rim from the sol 1843 images, but the 13 subframe images from sol 1847 apparently show a cobble falling into and then being ejected from that wheel's interior. (edited: After reviewing enhanced contrast versions of the images I think I was seeing a shadow rather than a cobble.)

I made the attached, cropped, animated gif from that sequence of images. All of the 13 frames were captured approximately 25 seconds apart. This sped-up animation compresses ~25 seconds to 0.3 seconds per frame.

Posted by: Stu Mar 17 2009, 08:07 PM

Couple of new colourisations here...

http://cumbriansky.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/new-pics-from-spirit

Posted by: jamescanvin Mar 19 2009, 08:42 AM

I think the decision to give up ploughing around here and head around the west side of HP deserves a new thread. Lets get moving!

I've split off the last few posts to http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=5901

Posted by: BrianL Mar 19 2009, 12:47 PM

The thread title change is a nice touch.