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Posted by: Tman Jun 14 2005, 07:35 PM

On sol 513 nearby Methuselah Spirit looks westward at his planned new path: http://www.greuti.ch/spirit/spirit_navcam_sol513b.jpg

On sol 514 he left so the well known place finally (I guess):
rear http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2005-06-14/2R172003844EFFAB00P1312R0M1.JPG and
forward http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2005-06-14/2F172003895EFFAB00P1212R0M1.JPG

And shyly he takes a look round the corner: http://www.greuti.ch/spirit/spirit_pancam_sol514.jpg

Posted by: Jeff7 Jun 14 2005, 07:50 PM

Wow, gained quite some distance there. I've attached a clip of the very nice Sol 513 panorama, with a circle to show where (I think) the rover was sitting on Sol 514. Quite a decent drive.

So when are we going to go visit that distant crater already?
Nothing like another long traverse, and another steep climb while way past warranty.

Posted by: Tman Jun 14 2005, 08:21 PM

(Windows Media Player) http://sg1.allmusic.com/cg/smp.dll?link=bzapfwske6xmb9a8fpug99i&z=MP3_BETA&r=20.asx

Jeff, I see Spirit on the same distance but a bit more to the right of your circle.

Posted by: Nirgal Jun 14 2005, 09:14 PM

Now that's impressive: just a few dozens of meters "around the corner"
and what a *phantastic* view of the sol514 pancam !

unfortunately there seem to be only 2 filters used on opposite cameras (left/right)
such that we can't do a straight-forward color composite...
(question for the stereo/anaglyph-Experts: would it be possible to re-align
left-right pancam frames such that a 2-band color composite could be generated
from the different filter frames ?

Posted by: dilo Jun 14 2005, 10:11 PM

Absolutely impressive panorama, and was hidden to us for so many Sols!...
I think to have identified features in the horizon: starting from right to left, we are seeing a large crater rim, a foregroung mountains and a complex of farther reliefs. If I'm correct, in the next days we should see another far mountain, which is in the extreme bottom of MGS image...
http://img132.echo.cx/my.php?image=sol514identificazione6sf.jpg
I do not know exact satellite image scale, so I cannot calculate distances from these features. Can someone help on this?

Posted by: Nix Jun 14 2005, 10:14 PM

It should work yes, I've aligned them countless times for creating an exaggerated stereo effect.
Nico

Posted by: dot.dk Jun 14 2005, 10:19 PM

Wrong thread...

Posted by: Nix Jun 14 2005, 10:23 PM

Nice dilo. The large dusty crater is Castril Crater or 'Mudsplat Crater' as I call it. It's a real beauty.
Oh about the matching Nirgal, you would need L7 in combination with say R2 instead of R1...no real use otherwise..

Posted by: dilo Jun 14 2005, 11:26 PM

Tanks for information, Nico. If you think is a beauty, take a look on this, where vertical scale is exaggerated by 5 and contrast is enhanced:

Note in particular the low "mesas" (or "splats" from crated itself) in front of the crater, not appreciable in original images but confirmed from satellite picture!
Moreover, now I found the real scale for MGS image posted above (about 17 m/pixel). Based on this, the foreground (center) mountain should be 7 Km away while Castril/Mudsplat nearest rim is about 11.5Km far and it's diameter is 1.8Km.
We can estimate also features height, which are, indeed, relatively low (less than 100m, not considering planet curvature)...

Posted by: RedSky Jun 14 2005, 11:50 PM

This recent Spirit view has a noticable dark patch on the slope of the far hill. It made me think of two dark patches to the northeast of Spirit on MOC images. They seemed to be similar to the large Ultreya feature to the south.

http://img16.echo.cx/img16/7663/2p171638218effaajcp2289r7m1spo.jpg


Does anyone know what direction this Spirit view is? ... and could the dark patches identified in the MOC image be this dark spot on the Spirit image?

Could this be a preview on a small scale of what Ultreya might look like?


RedSky

Posted by: Myran Jun 15 2005, 12:01 AM

Hello RedSky!

I do know as little as you about direction, but I had the same thought when I happened upon the very same frame at exploratorium.

Posted by: dilo Jun 15 2005, 12:32 AM

Approximately NNE direction, as showed in following collage; the enlargement of Sol 507 panorama suggests that is probably made of a dark dune field...
http://img83.echo.cx/my.php?image=sol507iperpano6ka.jpg
I think is really the smallest dark patch visible from satellite (the other two are probably hidden by left/right hills).
Do not know if could this be a small Ultreya version, but they share similar aspect and common orientation referred to topography...
Marco.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 15 2005, 01:03 AM

Dilo, I agree with your interpretation of this.

Phil

Posted by: Nix Jun 15 2005, 05:32 AM

Nice dilo. What's remarkable about Castril Crater is that it has an apparent thick layer of dust. There is a relatively small area around it where all is coated with dust but to the northeast and west of it are the big dark lobes or dust devil alleys which in these times appear NW-SE oriented on Gusev's floor.
Castril looks like it has never been cleared of its dust-coating. To me it looks like the Ma'adim Vallis entrance mesas to the south of Castril have acted as a windshield and a 'small' dusted area formed directly north of them.
The southern mesas are roughly 20-25 km distant and rise 200-300 meters above the plains. Perhaps on the other hand the dusty area is part of a different geological unit then the areas surrounding it. Mud/debris flows from Ma'adim Vallis might have been redirected around the mesas leaving this area intact.
Anyway I think wind is a big factor to the fact that it still appears so dusty while the DD alleys have shifted in location in recent times.

Posted by: Nix Jun 15 2005, 05:44 AM

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20040103a.html

There are different geological units involved for sure but I'd like to hear other interpretations. On another thread maybe since I'm going way off topic here from 'Spirit breaks new ground!"
Nico

Posted by: abalone Jun 15 2005, 07:07 AM

I don't know if you are into stereo and I have not attempted a photo attatchment so here goes

Posted by: Nirgal Jun 15 2005, 08:25 AM

Thanks abalone, your stereo adds another beautiful perspective to this
scenery !

Actually I was wondering if it could be done "the other way round", i.e.
re-aligning left and right camera images such that there is no "offset" left
and each pixel exactly matches in both images.
(this will probably involve a lot of nonlinear calculations and exact knowledge of
parameters such as focal length, camera geometry etc.)
Then it would be possible to combine the two matching frames (taken with
different filters) into one pseudo-color image ...

Posted by: djellison Jun 15 2005, 09:47 AM

Nope - L7 and R1 are infact the same colour filter as it wouldnt be scientifically accurate to attempt to generate terrain models by interpolating between images taken in different wavelengths.

http://www.ominous-valve.com/pancam.html

As you can see L7/R1 and L2/R2 share similar filter allocations

Doug

Posted by: abalone Jun 15 2005, 10:10 AM

I have squeezed, stretched, rotated and tinckered and this is the best I can get it

Richard

Posted by: Nirgal Jun 15 2005, 10:25 AM

Thanks Doug !
Didn't know that those filters are the same ... so no way to do a multi-band color image.

However, I thought that this marvelous view is just too beautiful for not being seen in colors:
This is the result of my preliminary hand-colorization of the scene:

http://mitglied.lycos.de/user73289/misc/spirit_p514.jpg

full-res (500K):
http://mitglied.lycos.de/user73289/misc/spirit_p514.jpg

Remember, however, that the colors are not "real" (althoug I'm quite satisfied with the overall color mood

BTW.: neither are the mutli-band composites "true color", ... they too leave lots of room for "artistic" interpretation

Posted by: djellison Jun 15 2005, 11:03 AM

Yesterday
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-14/2N172004048EFFAB00P0745L0M1.JPG

Today
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-15/2N172089761EFFAB70P0715L0M1.JPG

Pointy rock gives a good point of reference in terms of progress.

We're seing the normal pattern for driving sols now that we used to have almost every sol up to Bonneville and across the plains to the hills - first downlink FHAZ, RHAZ and forward Navcams, second downlink more Navcams and L7/R1 stereo forward Pancam imagery. Lots of new members since those old days Dont get too fussy over these image sets every sol - you'll drive yourself nuts keeping up with the rover

What you can do though - is take a range measurement on a feature in Pancam on the first sol, then do the same on the same feature in navcam the following sol and get a distance drive, so for that pointey rock, pancam on Sol 514, it's
object distance: 28.1 m, one-pixel error: 0.370 m
object dimension: 46.5 cm

Then Sol 515 on navcam it's
object distance: 7.09 m, one-pixel error: 0.023 m
object dimension: 12.5 cm
(me thinks there might be a bug on the object size for the parallax calculator)

Anyway - net result suggest an 21m drive

Doug

Posted by: ustrax Jun 15 2005, 11:10 AM

Nirgal...I'm smashed by this...

Posted by: blairf Jun 15 2005, 11:17 AM

Lurk a lot but don't post. but...

Wow!!!

Posted by: Nix Jun 15 2005, 11:40 AM

Nice work again Nirgal!

Posted by: Bill Harris Jun 15 2005, 12:32 PM

And, yawwwwn, a dust devil in the distance...

--Bill

Posted by: Tman Jun 15 2005, 12:52 PM

yawwwwwwn

Posted by: abalone Jun 15 2005, 01:38 PM

In 3D, it must be a good one since its easily visible without any enhancement. I assume its moving left to right ( like most of those seen in the animations) and seems to leave quite a broad area of lower visibility behind it

Posted by: djellison Jun 15 2005, 01:52 PM

the stereo pair are taken at the same time

2N172089761EFFAB70P0715L0M1 and
2N172089761EFFAB70P0715R0M1

The 172089761 part tells us when it was taken

doug

Posted by: abalone Jun 15 2005, 01:54 PM

Thanks for that info Doug

Posted by: Tman Jun 15 2005, 02:10 PM

Great, that's the first DD in stereo, isn't it?!

Posted by: mhoward Jun 15 2005, 02:35 PM

There have been many stereo images of dust devils caught by now, but usually they are the ones caught by accident. I don't think they have done DD imaging campaigns in stereo.

One day we'll get a really magnificent one caught in stereo, maybe...

Posted by: djellison Jun 15 2005, 02:37 PM

The effect of the stereo imaging only works (with navcam) out to a few 10's of metres of so, and pancam a little further, but not the 100's of M's these devils are.

Doug

Posted by: mhoward Jun 15 2005, 02:40 PM

There have been some dust devils (actually more like storm fronts?) that have been pretty spread out... I bet the stereo effect would work for those. That's what I'd love to see some day. But I'm just daydreaming, I suppose...

Posted by: abalone Jun 15 2005, 02:57 PM

You are right of course Doug, the stereo effect is limited by the separation distance between the two lenses just as with our own eyes, but the brain fills in a little further out both in real life and in photos. Our own poorly designed stereoscopic vision gives a perception of 3D to the horizon even when that is a mountain range many kilometres away. The Dust devil is not really in 3D. The effect only works on the forground but still gives a nice context to the DD on the plain in the distance.

In short I suppose I'm saying that as long as you believe "it was good" for you, then it probably was.

Posted by: Deimos Jun 15 2005, 03:30 PM

It's probably going right to left. Even in the movies, the dust devils have shifted to coming at Spirit more than across the image. This image is well to the left, almost perpendicular to the wind streaks in Gusev.

Posted by: Deimos Jun 15 2005, 03:38 PM

That would be nice, getting one in stereo (OK, that's a serious understatement). But as Doug has said, the dust devil would have to be very close to have a real stereo effect, <100 m. The odds go way down for that. The movies they do are limited by both data volume and timing. Adding stereo halves the frame rate of the movies: that is limited by on board image transfer and processing, and twice the pixels=twice the time. It also halves the number of frames you get, since the movies already use a pretty good chunk of downlink.

Posted by: dilo Jun 16 2005, 01:40 AM

Mounain now appear and based on distance (12 Km) should be about 70m above plain (so it is more appropriate to call it a hill... ).
http://img294.echo.cx/my.php?image=sol515pano1dl.jpg

Posted by: dot.dk Jun 16 2005, 01:44 AM

New update from Steve-O

http://athena1.cornell.edu/news/mubss/

He's really great writing these updates

Posted by: 4th rock from the sun Jun 16 2005, 11:45 AM

360º panorama from the Hazcams :-)

http://img63.echo.cx/my.php?image=hazcams1qj.jpg

Posted by: alan Jun 16 2005, 12:42 PM

Odd looking rock left of the 'crater' in upper right corner of this image
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2005-06-16/2P172173427EFFABAKP2431L7M1.JPG

Posted by: helvick Jun 16 2005, 09:26 PM

This is obviously just a coincidence but here ya go:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/515/2N172089761EFFAB70P0715L0M1.JPG
and
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/515/2N172089761EFFAB70P0715R0M1.JPG
From sol 515, which was june 15th, the day you asked for it no less.
Not much of a stereo effect though as Doug pointed out.

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Jun 16 2005, 09:38 PM

Hey that kind of reminds me of the view out the hatchback window of my old 74 Vega.

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jun 16 2005, 10:21 PM

Nirgal:

All your lovely colourised view needs is a nice Bonestell lander down on the plain, maybe a couple of dome tents, a tractor or two... ...guys in bright blue spacesuits...

(Oops, thought this was the Man Conquers Space website!)

Bob Shaw

Posted by: alan Jun 20 2005, 06:38 AM

This one is still warm, images have been at exploratorium for a whole half an hour.
http://s05.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/1215/panoSC.jpg

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jun 20 2005, 11:46 AM

That's a nice panorama - and the first I can think of where there have been indications of the form of the distant hills, rather than just outlines in the haze.

Posted by: abalone Jun 20 2005, 11:59 AM

The extensive layering evident on the extreme right seems to be a continuation to that at Larry's Lookout.

Posted by: Bill Harris Jun 20 2005, 12:37 PM

I noticed that, too. This may be a result of the way he balanced the colors in the image: as evidenced by the neutral sky tone, if the ochre mars overtone is "subtracted out", the subtle variations of color can be more easily seen. Not as "true to life", but more useful in analyzing the area.

--Bill

Posted by: djellison Jun 20 2005, 02:25 PM

Looks like a BIG drive today - still trying to figure it out

Ahh - spotted the new local rock next to a 2ndry crater

Pancam from pre-drive puts the rock at 37.8m and 37.1cm tall
Navcam from today puts it at 4m away, and 43cm tall

Drive distance estimate - 33.5 m

http://img294.echo.cx/my.php?image=sol515pano1dl.jpg (dilo stitch from old position)

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-20/2N172537963EFFABEJP0715L0M1.JPG - navcam frame showing rock next to 2ndry impact crater - visible near the 3rd-4th image join in the pancam mosaic above

At the time of posting - images are 3hrs 37minutes old


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_images/s_520_nav.jpg (396kb)

The way ahead looks very navigable towards the frame1-2 join on that Navcam mosaic

Doug

Posted by: Nix Jun 20 2005, 04:10 PM

Nice work! I like the view of West Spur these sols.
Nico

Posted by: TheChemist Jun 20 2005, 04:16 PM

Nice detective work Doug
The path you propose up the hill looks less like a rock garden. Spirit really has put the "pedal to the metal" the last few sols.

The way F1 races are run these days, Spirit could easily be on the podium
(I still have not recovered from the Indy fiasco, does it show ?)

Posted by: Deeman Jun 20 2005, 05:11 PM

Just to catch a glimpse of what to come.
Filters are 2,5,6. 2x9 Frames. And colors are not altered !

Dirk

Posted by: Deeman Jun 20 2005, 05:19 PM

I thing the Horizon from sol 519 deserves to get a second post. Here we go..

Dirk

Posted by: Sunspot Jun 20 2005, 05:50 PM

A little further around the corner:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2005-06-20/2P172538891EFFABEJP2433L7M1.JPG

I love shots of the distant horizon.

Posted by: Bill Harris Jun 20 2005, 06:05 PM

Very good. I like the color balance.

--Bill

Posted by: dilo Jun 20 2005, 06:30 PM

Deeman, simply magnificent!

PS: I fully agree with TheChemist about Spirit on the F1 podium!

Posted by: RedSky Jun 20 2005, 08:21 PM

Road ahead looks good for a while. (though some of the pancams and navs upslope are quite rocky and steep).

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2005-06-20/2F172537661EFFABEJP1212R0M1.JPG

And get a load of those pristine wheels! The interior of the left wheel looks brand new. You wouldn't think its driven miles across the dusty plain and up into the hills.

RedSky

Posted by: alan Jun 20 2005, 08:36 PM

The left wheel is on top of a rock again. I think the drive on sol 517 was aborted because of that.

Here's a preview of the view ahead
http://s02.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/1235/pano239-153Cr.jpg
Navcam from sol 239 and pancam from sol 153 (inset)
Nix has a color version of the right half at his site.

Posted by: Tman Jun 20 2005, 08:39 PM

Nice! An evening web session of great new images/pans around here again

I'll do a bit effort too (sol 520 drive seen from sol 311) http://www.greuti.ch/spirit/pan-spirit-sol520drive.jpg

btw, where is she seen from the bird's-eye view? http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=627

As you can see above in my "sol 520drive", we have now the permission from http://www.br-online.de/wissen-bildung/thema/mars/aktuell.xml and Arnulf Oppl about using of http://www.br-online.de//wissen-bildung/thema/mars/schnipsel/popup_flash-rover.html (to cut out). Nico known as "blue_scape" in the other Mars Forum got the permission via an e-mail request! It's only necessary these images with/of the Rovers to mark with "...courtesy of BR-ONLINE/Arnulf Oppl".

Posted by: Nix Jun 20 2005, 09:09 PM

Yes, panorama party.! My 519 is still in the oven ...I adore that view. There is the ridge seen now also visible in orbital imagery..
Thanks for the info Tman!
Nico

Posted by: 4th rock from the sun Jun 20 2005, 09:43 PM

Some corrected hazcam images, forward and backward.

Posted by: dilo Jun 20 2005, 09:45 PM

About "distant hills", I cannot resist to make an updated horizon view with exhaggerated (5x) vertical scale (horizontal field is about 46 deg):
http://img89.echo.cx/my.php?image=superskyline2go.jpg
Notes: manual stitch, farthest objects are darkened and rightmost image was made with different filters combination (L456 vs L256), so perfect color matching was impossible).

Posted by: dilo Jun 20 2005, 09:55 PM

Really going up!
Maybe they decided to climb the apparenly rockless way above the rover, clearly visible in the beautiful Tman simulation...
PS: it seems to me that there is a wide arguments overlapping between this thread and the other one "Where Is Spirit Right Now?!". I suggests to transfer all discussions in one unique thread!

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jun 20 2005, 10:00 PM

OK Dilo, now put in the Rock Snakes and the MEV!

Posted by: dvandorn Jun 21 2005, 07:48 AM

I'm concerned about the "rockless area," since the last attempt to scale to the summit through a fairly rockless area ended up with Spirit slipping down as much as she climbed up. I think it likely that any rockless area on the slope of this sized Martian hill is going to appear rockless because the rocks have been covered in wind-deposited dust, and therefore will be harder, not easier, to climb for the MER's wheel design.

What we want is a path paved with a large population of fairly small rocks that are well-seated into whatever soil fills the inter-rock areas. That should give Spirit the best chance of success, I would think.

-the other Doug

Posted by: abalone Jun 21 2005, 10:46 AM

Back to more serious stuff guys.
This looks like an interesting specimen, a breccia of some sort? It is sitting in a depression, a piece of some other part of Mars sitting in the bottom of a secondary crater? Fun to speculate from a distance.

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jun 21 2005, 01:11 PM

The supposed breccia certainly lacks the 'planes' of a typical basalt fragment (yup, I know they're not planes, but you know what I mean - the semi-pyramidical facetting...)...

Posted by: RNeuhaus Jun 21 2005, 03:03 PM

I think it is relative. I have the impression that the upper hill has less wind-deposited sand than the lower lands. I am not so concerned about the acumulation of sand on the upper lands. There Spirit can climb a higher slope toward to Husband Summit than the ones of Meridian Planum with very tricky uninform sand textures.

On the other hand, the kind of land on upper is more pavemented than the lower lands due to the wind blown erosion. The above lands have less sands than the lower lands. It might explain that the upper lands is more windy than the lower lands.

Rodolfo

Posted by: dot.dk Jun 21 2005, 03:12 PM

Spirit did a little more driving today

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2005-06-21/2F172618620EFFABFLP1212R0M1.JPG

Posted by: djellison Jun 21 2005, 03:29 PM

Only a couple of metres - from just infront of that large rock, to just beyond it. Certainly no more than 10m or so I'd think

Compare Before
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2005-06-20/2P172538891EFFABEJP2433L7M1.JPG

with after

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2005-06-21/2P172619703EFFABFLP2434L7M1.JPG

Time to play 'how well did Doug guess the drive distance'

Range to that curved+angled rock on the near horizon in first images...
object distance: 17.9 m, one-pixel error: 0.151 m
object dimension: 37.7 cm

Range now
object distance: 10.3 m, one-pixel error: 0.050 m
object dimension: 38.4 cm

Progress towards that rock
7.6m

given that they were not driving To that rock but slightly off to one angle, perhaps 8 or 9m?

Doug

Posted by: alan Jun 21 2005, 03:56 PM

Strange looking rock
http://s05.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/1218/Waylon.jpg

Posted by: RNeuhaus Jun 21 2005, 04:13 PM

It looks like a lava.

Posted by: mhoward Jun 21 2005, 05:20 PM

The http://www.flickr.com/photos/36868531@N00/20732892/in/photostream/ of the strange looking rock is nice.

Posted by: dvandorn Jun 21 2005, 06:03 PM

Ah, but you also get windblown deposition on hills, too. Especially in "wind traps," like the subtle bench that lies between Spirit's current position and the summit of Husband Hill.

Add to that the fact that what your impression tells you is harder-packed pavement was unclimbable on the north face of the hill, and I think it's going to take more in-situ observations to determine the truth of the matter...

-the other Doug

Posted by: RNeuhaus Jun 21 2005, 06:55 PM

Interesting observation with "wind traps". I think it is certain.

Posted by: Bill Harris Jun 21 2005, 08:53 PM

Looks basalt-like, but I see an angular contact on the right side.

--Bill

Posted by: edstrick Jun 21 2005, 11:47 PM

That boulder mass looks a fair bit like some of the big hulking outcrop on the shoulder of the spur that was Spirit's first target up on top of the spur but which it couldn't quite navigate up to. Some of that was massive and structureless, while other parts seemed to be fragmented, maybe crushed, like parts of this rock.

Posted by: abalone Jun 22 2005, 01:45 PM

The latest rear hazcam photos for Sol 521 seem to show that the ground in fairly solid and slippage rates must be low. The rock I got interested in seems to have been passed by with only a casual examination, they were obviously not as excited as I was... sure there's more great stuff ahead.

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 22 2005, 03:10 PM

Today's (Sol 522) drive - 0m.

Posted by: djellison Jun 22 2005, 03:12 PM

I dont see any Exploratorium images from today yet - are you guessing?

Doug

Posted by: ustrax Jun 22 2005, 03:18 PM

Doug, there are some fw images and with visible mouvement.
The others...not released...yet...

Posted by: djellison Jun 22 2005, 03:29 PM

Yeah - the ones up there are down-sampled images of the autonav sequence from yestersol, not tosol. The last of them was Sol 521 1224LST

It's about 1740 Sol 522 now - if there's been a drive, the images will be down in the next hour or so on the PM Odyssey pass or passes

The ones that are up now are probably left-overs from an AM Odyssey pass.

Doug

Posted by: ustrax Jun 22 2005, 03:37 PM

Thank you Doug!
It is so good to have you and your knowledge
around in this occasions...

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 22 2005, 03:58 PM

Well, the downsampled images were on exploratorium at 16:00 CET (14:00 UTC).
Yesterday and the day before, the full-size hazcam images were available at that time, and later on the downsampled ones.

Today there were no full-sized images -- at least until now.

Anyway, I will be quite happy if at the end there's been some drive today.

Posted by: djellison Jun 22 2005, 04:07 PM

I'm off to the cinema tonight - but if there's post-drive pics when I get back, I'll do the maths before heading to bed

Doug

(No new pics as of 0014GMT - Boring )

Posted by: 4th rock from the sun Jun 22 2005, 09:22 PM

Going up

Posted by: RNeuhaus Jun 22 2005, 09:36 PM

See that Spirit is not experiencing any sleepage by that land. It looks it is heading toward to Husband Hill (North East).

Posted by: dilo Jun 23 2005, 06:35 AM

Impressive climbing sequence for last two Sols (especially 521):
http://img288.echo.cx/img288/6730/spiritf520214xq.gif

Posted by: abalone Jun 23 2005, 06:49 AM

Not much slipage evident here (navcam sol 522), also shows how little dust has settled since the major cleaning events around 100 sols ago. Looks almost straight out of the showroom.

Posted by: Tman Jun 23 2005, 08:03 AM

At the moment the ground looks very good, firm and road-like. It seems this area is blown free unlike the north side of Husband Hill's higher part. Could we conclude on it that the main direction of wind is south to north and maybe southwest to northeast in this part of Gusev? That means the side of Spirit's ~ sol 445 slippage and in Tennessee Valley generally deposits more sand, doesn't it.

Would that associate with the dust devils main direction?

Posted by: abalone Jun 23 2005, 08:31 AM

We really should combine these two threads as the same discussion is happening in both

Posted by: djellison Jun 23 2005, 08:45 AM

quite agree - I've moved all the stuff that doesnt ask and answer the question "where are we" from 'where is spirit ' to this thread

Doug

Posted by: Nix Jun 23 2005, 09:33 AM

http://www.awalkonmars.com/A1521PAPC8R1L7EF1.01.jpg

All right, the basin is beginning to show

Nico

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 23 2005, 09:59 AM

Are you talking about Inner Basin, Nico?

I believe we have yet to "move around the corner" to have a glimpse of it.

Posted by: Nix Jun 23 2005, 10:49 AM

Okay, not just yet, it is the terrain south of West Spur. sorry 'bout that. I'm losing my patience I guess

Nico

Posted by: alan Jun 23 2005, 01:37 PM

Now this is what I've been looking for
http://s05.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/1223/panoThird.jpg
I was just about to ask why they weren't doing these anymore.

Posted by: ustrax Jun 23 2005, 01:41 PM

That is great alan!
What an advance Spirit had on the last days!

Posted by: Tman Jun 23 2005, 01:59 PM

I love this side of the Hill - it's sort of easy and free.

Posted by: ustrax Jun 23 2005, 02:10 PM

I agree Tman...
I would just lay down there and enjoy the sun going down...

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 23 2005, 02:25 PM

Here is a polar version of the latest pan by Alan.

We are getting a nice view out across West Spur now.

Phil

Posted by: abalone Jun 23 2005, 02:30 PM

Looks like a bug on a spud

Posted by: djellison Jun 23 2005, 03:51 PM

Well - they had a sol off it seems, and now had a drive sol today - although I'm struggling to line up pre-drive and post-drive imaging to find a common feature - looks like a slight turn up to the left though - and quite a climb

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2005-06-23/2R172797472EFFABGZP1312L0M1.JPG

Posted by: ustrax Jun 23 2005, 03:58 PM

Doug, my preview keeps close to the truth...
I believe we're here:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/ustrax/loc523.jpg

Posted by: Burmese Jun 23 2005, 05:19 PM

They appear to be skirting the edge of the dusty depression off their port side(circled in the satellite photes posted earlier). I wonder if they are aiming to hit the top on July 4th?

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 23 2005, 09:09 PM

Definitely it looks like this side of the hill is much more driveable than Cumberland Ridge.

4th July? Lets hope there is no PA pressure on this area. But if there is any, I would guess something related to the shuttle launch date and a tribute to the Columbia crew.

Posted by: djellison Jun 23 2005, 09:44 PM

I've tried to, but cant find common features from yestersols imagery and tosols post-drive imagery Either means quite a big drive ( 30-50m+ ) or they pulled a blinder and did something shocking, like..turn left

Doug

Posted by: alan Jun 24 2005, 02:39 AM

About here
http://s05.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/1225/location423.jpg

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 24 2005, 08:57 AM

Doug,

Edited: Spirit's current position is out of sol 521 pancam images fov, but I found at least these common features between navcam pictures.

http://img295.echo.cx/my.php?image=combo5215235ku.jpg

The top pic is 2N172797667EFFABGZP0695L0M1 (sol 523) and the bottom one is 2N172618802EFFABFLP0705L0M1 (sol 521).

I hope it is useful.

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 24 2005, 09:03 AM

... and here is the navcam panorama for sol 523.

http://img237.echo.cx/my.php?image=panonavl0sol523r4zd.jpg

Posted by: djellison Jun 24 2005, 09:10 AM

Allow me to go..AH HAAAAAAAAA



Right - so we've got two ref points now - drive distance coming up

Range 15.1m and size 14cm pre-drive
Range 9.7m and 15cm post drive

Drive distance, actually only around 6m

Thanks for finding some common features - I was a little lost there!

I'm away over the weekend, probably off line.

Doug

Posted by: Decepticon Jun 24 2005, 09:21 AM

Are we there yet?

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 24 2005, 09:32 AM

Lets think positive. Up today all drives were traverses around the hill, but this last one was a climb. Not a direct climb to the summit, but around 45º left of the horizont line.

Enjoy the weekend.

Posted by: general Jun 24 2005, 09:34 AM

Oppy?


BTW Wouldn't it be nice if the http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/traverse_maps.html were updated more often (like once a week)?

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 24 2005, 09:41 AM

Oooops!
Corrected.

Well, at least there is something true on my sentence "Oppy's current position is out of sol 521 pancam images fov"... Definitely Oppy is out of ANY Spirit image fov.

Posted by: dot.dk Jun 24 2005, 09:43 AM

Actually they have started to update the maps more often than they ever have done before

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-spirit-all.html

Updated on SOL 503 510 and 517

Posted by: jvandriel Jun 24 2005, 11:36 AM

Higher up Husband Hill.
A panoramic view of the summit taken with the L Navcam on sol 523.
A rocky road ahead.

jvandriel

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jun 24 2005, 12:00 PM

Interesting 10m scale circular features on the latest map...

Posted by: general Jun 24 2005, 12:30 PM

I wonder if these two features (dustbowls? craters?) were really interesting. Looks like Spirit drove past them without even looking at them.

Posted by: general Jun 24 2005, 01:14 PM

Recently, Steve Squyres said: "Whether we'll actually reach the summit is an open question at this point. But we're convinced that the route we've chosen offers the quickest path to a view of whatever's on the south side of the hill ... and that's what we want to see next."

Could it be that Spirit is not heading for the summit of Husband Hill at all, but simply driving around it to the south side of HH?

Posted by: djellison Jun 24 2005, 01:14 PM

Sleepy Hollow, Middle Ground, Laguna Hollow - we've seen (and investigated) them before

Doug

Posted by: ustrax Jun 24 2005, 01:40 PM

That would be...Nice...

Posted by: djellison Jun 24 2005, 02:09 PM

They've certainly made more progress 'around' than 'up' - but they're still making good progress 'up' all the same

Doug

Posted by: Sunspot Jun 24 2005, 06:06 PM

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2005-06-24/2F172890413EFFAC00P1214R0M1.JPG

Another drive, looks like it was quite a long one.

Posted by: dilo Jun 24 2005, 06:15 PM

And this is a "magnified" detail from PanCam (same Sol):
http://img263.echo.cx/my.php?image=pano5230hb.jpg
Is it the present position?

Posted by: RNeuhaus Jun 24 2005, 07:02 PM

This zone have stones of greater sizes than the lower zones. I suspect that zone was erosionated by the water leaving the big ones more visibles on their places and the smaller ones were drifted to lower lands.

The other hand is that by that zone has more naked rocks and I am supposing that the winds are playing a role to blows away the fine sand. Hence Spirit is able to advance easily toward to Summit hill, with no much concern of slippage.

Rodolfo

Posted by: Burmese Jun 24 2005, 07:33 PM

Looks like Spirit did part of a drive, took a set of navcam shots, then drove some more and took another set. Nice views down to West Spur from slightly different angles:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-24/2N172704009EFFABFLP1605L0M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-24/2N172891769EFFAC00P1995L0M1.JPG


and the tracks behind the rover at the drive midpoint and ending:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-24/2N172704081EFFABFLP1605L0M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-24/2N172891971EFFAC00P1995L0M1.JPG

Posted by: ustrax Jun 24 2005, 07:47 PM

With a beer in my hand I can only say:
We're two or three sols away from seing the Inner basin Ultreya, Home Plate...
Will we wait for the reaching of the summit?
I guess so?...
But seing them just ahead...It's hard...hard...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/ustrax/platagate2.jpg

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 24 2005, 09:02 PM

No, ustrax, I'm afraid you have a longer wait than that. Perhaps after your vacation! Spirit is about half way from Methuselah to the point you indicated, and we can expect it to look at one or two things along the way, and also still have trouble climbing towards the summit.

Phil

Posted by: Deeman Jun 24 2005, 09:15 PM

A few sols ago navcam shot this panorama...

Dirk

Posted by: Myran Jun 24 2005, 09:38 PM

The driving appear to be easier than perhaps anything Spirit have had so far.
And thats good news since the rover might progress faster than ever.

I wish I could share RNeuhaus optimism about seeing signs of water erosion in this area, sure overhead images from orbiters show the the larger scale of things most likely have been shaped by water. But later on there have been deposited a lot of volcanic rocks and debris from a later and dryer time and then windblown sand. So ive grown pessimistic that we will see much first hand information from the earliest wet period of Mars in Gusev now.

This doesnt mean I find this exploration uninteresting, to the contrary, in this location we might learn a lot about what went 'wrong' on Mars, well 'wrong' that said from our human perspective since we are wet loving creatures that need a lot of air.

I'll cut myself short here and end this with: Happy summer everyone!

Posted by: Tman Jun 26 2005, 09:31 AM

Ones of these blue diamond Mars pictures (1,2MB): http://www.greuti.ch/spirit/spirit_pancam_sol522.jpg

Spirit path went to the sand depressions top left in the image. The Pancam pan was taken from the same position as Dirk's Navcam pan.

Posted by: TheChemist Jun 26 2005, 12:02 PM

Those depressions (relatively fresh craters ?) look really rockless.
This territory looks very different from the japanese gardens a few sols before

Posted by: remcook Jun 26 2005, 02:58 PM

I thought the same thing: where have all the rocks gone?

Posted by: RedSky Jun 26 2005, 03:38 PM

If you look at the Sol 311 Husband Hill image, you'll see areas in the central portion of the hill that seem more sandy (slight depressions / sand traps?) rather than heavily rock covered:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_images/s311.jpg

Posted by: alan Jun 26 2005, 05:08 PM

Is that bedrock?
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2005-06-24/2P172890954EFFAC00P2438R1M1.JPG

Posted by: Bill Harris Jun 26 2005, 07:21 PM

...long time passing

There are more and less resistant units in the hills; the more resistant rock leave boulders scattered about whereas the less resistant units are blowin' in the wind...



Alan, the laminated-looking area does look a bit bedrockish; is this feature one of the "craters" we see in the way up?

Also, I think I see Jabba the Hut just right of center...

--Bill





Sorry, Doug

Posted by: Nix Jun 26 2005, 07:30 PM

[quote=alan,Jun 26 2005, 05:08 PM]
Is that bedrock?

Yes I was thinking the same thing..

Posted by: Nix Jun 27 2005, 12:59 AM

Sol 522, man these are exciting times!



http://www.awalkonmars.com/0_LOC_1_S_522.htm.asp

Nico

Posted by: RedSky Jun 27 2005, 01:20 AM

Real good view now of the light dunes south of West Spur:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2005-06-26/2P173060050EFFAC00P2439R2M1.JPG

I'm not usually one to point out "non-rock-looking objects", but the lower left of the image has something that looks like a rectangular plaque. Did Doug send his 1000 sol plaque to the wrong address? Or perhaps is says... "we came in peace for all...."

Posted by: BruceMoomaw Jun 27 2005, 04:59 AM

Is that a dust devil we're seeing in today's Navcam photos? Whatever it is, it's moving and then it disappears. And if it is one, this is one that didn't need any contrast amplification at all to jump out at the viewer:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-26/2N173059074ESFAC00P1560L0M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-26/2N173059174ESFAC00P1560L0M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-26/2N173059274ESFAC00P1560L0M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-26/2N173059432ESFAC00P1560L0M1.JPG

Posted by: djellison Jun 27 2005, 07:39 AM

Yup - looks like a DD - they dont usually need processing to be seen, just processing to be seen in as much of their glory as navcam captured

Doug

Posted by: abalone Jun 27 2005, 09:07 AM

Here's a strange looking lump, what do you make of this. Looks like a salt crust with smooth rocks embeded in it, I hope they don't pass this one up to look at the scenery.

Posted by: jaredGalen Jun 27 2005, 09:14 AM

Didn't come up very well for me....

http://img101.echo.cx/my.php?image=dd3qf.gif

Posted by: general Jun 27 2005, 10:01 AM

I think it looks great - nice animation

Posted by: jvandriel Jun 27 2005, 10:49 AM

A panoramic view of Husband Hill and Gusev Crater taken with the R2 Pancam a few sols ago.


jvandriel

Posted by: Tman Jun 27 2005, 11:02 AM

Just a Navcam "full resolution" look back from sol 524 to Spirit's path, West Spur and Clark Hill:
(1,0MB) http://www.greuti.ch/spirit/spirit_navcam_sol524.jpg

It's panorama party here!
In jvandriel's pan I guess Spirit's sol 524 position is in the 6 top frame from left nearly at horizon.

Posted by: ustrax Jun 27 2005, 11:19 AM

What a superview Tman!!!

Posted by: Nix Jun 27 2005, 11:31 AM

You bet it's a superview! This one goes on the Mars-wall..
Very nice Tman.

Nico

Posted by: Tman Jun 27 2005, 12:11 PM

Thank you, Mars mates!

Posted by: ustrax Jun 27 2005, 01:15 PM

No no no...We shall thank you...

Posted by: RNeuhaus Jun 27 2005, 03:36 PM

The picture is very intrigating to me. It looks like that the water was filled up to below line of rocks for long time, the water waves has removed away the soils between rocks. After that the water has dropped faster without eroding much the lower lands that are filled with wind sand.

Rodolfo

Posted by: aldo12xu Jun 27 2005, 05:04 PM

Great panorama, Tman!! Can't wait for the summit panorama!!

......off topic, Tman, I'm doing a write up for my site on Burns Cliff and I was wondering if I might be able to use your image that has the rover to scale in it? http://www.greuti.ch/oppy/endurance-pano1.jpg

Thanks,
Aldo.

Posted by: Tman Jun 27 2005, 05:34 PM

Hi Aldo,

Don't you get the Email back? Maybe I wasn't precise enough?! Of course, you are allowed, I would gladly see this image on your great website

It's ok when you write the original link beneath!

Posted by: aldo12xu Jun 27 2005, 08:08 PM

Damn, I still had my old email address in my profile. All is updated now. Thanks again, TMan. I should have the page up in a day or two for everyone to peruse........By the way, have you thought of creating your on site? It'd be nice to have your collection in one spot. For instance, I remember seeing another image with the rover to scale on West Spur, but I've got no idea where I saw it or even if that was your work.

Posted by: dot.dk Jun 27 2005, 08:18 PM

Spirit is headed for the top

Posted by: general Jun 27 2005, 08:46 PM

That's a picture from the rear hazcam! Is she driving backwards?

Posted by: dot.dk Jun 27 2005, 09:14 PM

Yep

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/forward_hazcam/2005-06-27/2F173154400EFFAC90P1201R0M1.JPG

Posted by: Nix Jun 27 2005, 10:38 PM

Super! Sol 527 navcams show 'new' horizon-features due south; a distant hill (southeast of Castril on orbitals) and that ridge marking the boundary between geological units shows better and better

Nico

Posted by: djellison Jun 27 2005, 10:44 PM

They do a mix of forward and backward driving, it's to keep the cogs well greased.

Doug

Posted by: dilo Jun 28 2005, 12:12 AM

Hi, herebelow the 360deg stitch and corresponding polar projections (North on the top):
http://img202.echo.cx/my.php?image=nav5277ve.jpg
http://img202.echo.cx/my.php?image=spiritnavcamsol527polar2od.jpg
(I know stitch can be improved... )

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jun 28 2005, 12:54 AM

Very nice!

Phil

Posted by: alan Jun 28 2005, 01:47 AM

Nice view of the bedrock
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-27/2N173158271EFFACA0P1994R0M1.JPG
The rock to the north appears to be tilted in a different direction.
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/navcam/2005-06-27/2N173155926EFFACA0P0665R0M1.JPG
I bet they stay in this area for awhile.

Posted by: dilo Jun 28 2005, 06:16 AM

Thanks, Master !

Posted by: general Jun 28 2005, 12:30 PM

There's a "new hill" on the horizon. Could it be Chaffee Hill?
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a250/Moolie/chaffee_hill.jpg
http://www.planetary.org/news/2004/spirit_gusev-hills_apollo1-memorial.html

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 28 2005, 12:40 PM

Edited: Ok, its panorama party time again!

I just collected all navcam panoramas between sols 513 and 527 on a single image, and this is the result:

[deleted] See later post.

(I would like to show you the full size picture -- 4500x7700 pix. -- but due to space limitations this is a just a reduced one.)

Posted by: abalone Jun 28 2005, 01:04 PM

Fantastic combination, really gives a sense of the progress made in the last 14 Sols

Posted by: ilbasso Jun 28 2005, 01:15 PM

Tesheiner, I'm getting the message that the traffic limit has been exceeded on your page - your pic is obviously WAY too popular!!

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 28 2005, 01:31 PM

Ok, let me try again but this time with a local attachment.

...

It doesn't work.
I'm getting a message saying "The total filespace required to upload all the attached files is greater than your per post or global limit.", however the global space left is greater then the picture size.
Doug?

...

Just edited the previous post. I hope now the picture has a greater "lifetime".

Posted by: djellison Jun 28 2005, 01:54 PM

There was a max limit on attachment size, because people were using the place as a file-library.

I've lifted it up to 1 meg.

Doug

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 28 2005, 03:01 PM

Last try!

http://img71.echo.cx/my.php?image=allpanosnew45bm.jpg

I had to compress the picture in order to get it near the original size.

Posted by: Tman Jun 28 2005, 03:05 PM

Thanks Tesheiner, you give me the hope that at last I get the definitive overview about Spirit's path and her positions on this site of the Hill.

Posted by: aldo12xu Jun 28 2005, 05:04 PM

Great job, Tesheiner! That's an excellent way to show Spirit's progress up the hill.

Posted by: ToSeek Jun 28 2005, 09:36 PM

Awesome set of pans (and annotations), Tesheiner! Great for getting a feel for the progress Spirit is making.

Posted by: aldo12xu Jun 28 2005, 11:01 PM

New route maps are updated to sol 524!! It looks like they might be getting ready to turn southeastward. Summit 2 is 150 metres away!

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-spirit/index.html

Posted by: Tesheiner Jun 29 2005, 07:31 AM

New drive on sol 528, however it seems to be either an aborted drive or an attempt to get closer to the outcrop(?) near the rover.

Here is an after-drive 360º navcam panorama:

http://img238.echo.cx/my.php?image=panonavl0sol528180151r4pg.jpg

Posted by: abalone Jun 29 2005, 08:32 AM

[QUOTE][quote=Tesheiner,Jun 29 2005, 06:31 PM]
New drive on sol 528, however it seems to be either an aborted drive or an attempt to get closer to the outcrop(?) near the rover.
[/QUOTE]


Looks like we're getting ready to dig a hole, or try to anyhow. This stuff looks so thoroughly weathered that even a worn out RAT might make a dent, lets hope it still works.

Posted by: jvandriel Jun 29 2005, 10:05 AM

The summit of Husband Hill and surrounding and Gusev Crater.
A panoramic view taken with the L Navcam on Sol 527.

jvandriel

Posted by: abalone Jun 29 2005, 10:39 AM

Almost looks like layers with blueberries.
Richard

Posted by: BruceMoomaw Jun 29 2005, 12:54 PM

Speaking of dust devils, take a look at http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2005-06-28/2P173143929EFFAC00P2629L4M1.JPG -- a Pancam view from yesterday which, unless I miss my guess, shows a REALLY close one. (It vanishes in the next two shots of the same scene. By itself, the bright funnel might be an optical trick -- but it is also associated with a bright streak along the ground, which is also gone in the next two shots.)

Posted by: djellison Jun 29 2005, 01:19 PM

Do keep up Bruce - it's coloured, processed, analyzed to death in the Dust Devil thread

Doug

Posted by: djellison Jun 30 2005, 10:57 AM

Very VERY bad MI mosaic of Independance

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_images/S_MI_Ind.jpg (400kb)

Doug

Posted by: TheChemist Jun 30 2005, 11:45 AM

Considering the fact I had no idea MIs of Independence had been uploaded,
I found it actually very good, thank you

Posted by: jvandriel Jun 30 2005, 11:53 AM

Here is a panoramic view of that same area ( Independence ?).
Taken with the L7 Pancam on Sol 528.

jvandriel

Posted by: jvandriel Jun 30 2005, 12:27 PM

Here is a better panoramic view of Independence taken with the MI on sol 529?
Stitched by autostitch.

jvandriel

Posted by: Gray Jun 30 2005, 04:32 PM

Those are interesting rod-like structures in the lower right of the MI. I'd guess that this is yet another evaporite layer. Does anyone know if Spirit has been traveling up-dip or down-dip?

Posted by: Nirgal Jun 30 2005, 11:52 PM

the impressive diverse & complex microtexture of the latest MI images
inspired me to the following high-res MI colorization:

http://mitglied.lycos.de/user73289/misc/spirit_m530.jpg

(click image for high-res version, 700KB)

note that the colors are only approximate guesses, although I tried to
reproduce the overall color mood to match that of the latest pancam pictures
of Independace Rock like this one (by horton)
http://photos16.flickr.com/22623239_29a3ffc19f_b.jpg


.... what a great, great journey of phantastic discoveries

Posted by: dilo Jul 1 2005, 06:07 AM

Hi, done it with autostich (50% size):
http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=indipendence0be.jpg

Posted by: Nix Jul 1 2005, 07:43 AM

And what a great, great MI colorization Nirgal, another one for the wall!
Guys, if you're printing the best imagery of this forum put it on the wall! I have just begun making a selection of all the fine work here and I'm making a 'Mars-wall' at my desk ...it's superb!

Thanks Nirgal

Dilo, nice stitch!

Posted by: ustrax Jul 1 2005, 08:14 AM

Damn you! Damn you Nirgal!
Damn you for being so good at this and SHARE it!
Damn you...

Posted by: Nirgal Jul 1 2005, 08:34 AM

Damn *YOU*, Ustrax

for making this phantastic journey all the more phantastic by
accompanying it with your many, many *fine* forum contributions and
by sharing your legendary adventure of ULTREYA with us

Posted by: jvandriel Jul 1 2005, 08:58 AM

Panorama of the rocks ahead Steve Squyres is describing in his mission update 29-6-2005.

The rocky road to the summit of Husband Hill.

jvandriel

Posted by: Decepticon Jul 1 2005, 09:39 AM

Can anyone even attempted to picture the flood that occurred here millions of years ago!?


Th amount of water that must have filled this crater basin must have been a Jaw dropping sight!

Posted by: ustrax Jul 1 2005, 09:44 AM

Can't wait to see what you'll do with the first Ultreya images...
Guess you'll transform that supposed dune field into the most incredible site in the entire solar system!

Posted by: ustrax Jul 1 2005, 02:36 PM

This gives me such a thrill!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/ustrax/ultreyansv.jpg

http://www.caminhodesantiago.com/musica/archi/mus/ultreya_latin.mp3

Posted by: RNeuhaus Jul 1 2005, 02:43 PM

I suspect yes that the water have somewhat eroded these rocks.

The rocks on one side of the top are *washed*. I don't think that the wind has played in making waves on that lake. Maybe, the water flow came from West to others directions. The lower lands must have rocks but they are sepulted by fallen small debris and wind sand. Hence, the top land, Spirit has not experienced as much slippage as the lower lands.

Rodolfo

Posted by: Jeff7 Jul 1 2005, 02:52 PM

Geez, and someone was asking a little while ago where all the rocks had gone? I think Spirit's found them.

Posted by: Tman Jul 1 2005, 10:30 PM

Puh, this pics are more difficult than the last (sol 524), the afternoon sun makes the difficulties probably.

Now you may sit down too and have a look at the longest Gusev crater horizon from the hill so far: (1,4MB) http://www.greuti.ch/spirit/spirit_navcam_sol527.jpg

Could this lookout just be in the direct (straight) line to Spirit's track from Bonneville to West Spur?

Posted by: Nix Jul 1 2005, 11:53 PM

That one is SPLENDID! Very nice work... ain't that southern horizon lovely?

Nico

Posted by: dilo Jul 2 2005, 07:43 AM

Hi Tman! I tried to integrate yor great mosaic with jvandriel one (taken on the same Sol ), then I re-mapped with Polar and Vertical projections (first and second image, north on top):
http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sol527polar6fb.jpg http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sol527vertical7od.jpg http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=matching2kt.jpg
In last picture, I compare 2m/pixel http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/msss/camera/images/2004/01/23/index.html with an enhanced detail of my projection (top half); is interesting that, while dunes aspect is comparable, there are strong differences especially in the crater interior brightness, probably due to albedo variations at low incidence angles...
Anyway, based on the best matching with bottom image, is finally possible to argue the Spirit heigh above nearest Gusev plain, which results of about 60m!

Posted by: Tman Jul 2 2005, 08:55 AM

Wow Dilo, in your right image I'm tempted to say it's possible to nail down Spirit's position "damn" exactly with it Could you try to match the near surrounding of Spirit still better therein - like the near surrounding of West Spur?! But someway it's seems already to fit...

Posted by: general Jul 2 2005, 09:48 AM

Three Hills... as seen by Spirit
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a250/Moolie/Spirit_3_hills.jpg

Posted by: Nix Jul 2 2005, 10:23 AM

If Spirit survives the Basin I vote for that ridge! Although it's not 'around the corner' ; it's just visible..

Now I will await the Basin and be VERY happy with what we've got!

Nico

Posted by: abalone Jul 2 2005, 10:42 AM

Have wanted to ask this for a long time, looking at this orbital photo and others of the same area, a few things seem unanswered questions.

1. Many DD's start inside craters but in many craters, some right next to those in which they start, no DD's start, Why?
2. DD's are very localised even though the terrain next door looks similar, there are none, Why?

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jul 2 2005, 01:26 PM

Dilo, excellent work. Your matching image is very interesting. One thing it makes clear is that the dunes seen near West Spur are only the smallest of that group of dunes. The others should be spectacular if we get to see them.

If you made vertical projections like this for each pan position along the drive from Methuselah to here it might be possible to join them to create a photomap of the route.

Phil

Posted by: djellison Jul 2 2005, 02:06 PM

Infact - if you look v.closely at some of the JPL routemaps - this is exactly what they do down in Pasadena

Doug

Posted by: dilo Jul 2 2005, 02:29 PM

OK, it would be great... but pay attention! in my vertical projection, there is not topography, so mosaic is projected to a horizontal plane which lies 60m under the Rover!
In other words, higher (closer) features like West Spur are magnified and also displaced respect their true position Moreover, region near Spirit isn't horizontal and this produce a clear deformation of hill terrain!
This simplicistic method is good for present Opportunity position (and in fact, I plan to do a "route maps" with multiple projections, as suggested by Phil). For Spirit, however, I absolutely need a detailed elevation model, like MOLA based ones (I'm working on it ).
Regards..

Posted by: jvandriel Jul 6 2005, 11:27 AM

A panoramic view of some images taken by the MI cam at Independence on Sol 532.

jvandriel

Posted by: ustrax Jul 6 2005, 12:48 PM

We are moving!
Ridge by ridge...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/ustrax/ramp8.jpg

Posted by: Nirgal Jul 6 2005, 01:06 PM

jvandriel,

this MI panorama is really cool ... also from sol 532 !

lot's of *very* bizarre formations in the latest Micro images...
let's see if I can do a color version

Amazing, how much variety of textures and shapes we see at the Micro Imager scale, only a few dozens of meters apart ...

Posted by: djellison Jul 6 2005, 01:56 PM

I think we're still at independance to be honest


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_images/s_534_indep.jpg (730kb)

Thats the IDD area just there isnt it? Maybe a turn in place, but I dont think we can starting singing "We're on the road again...wooahahaaaa"

Doug

Posted by: SFJCody Jul 6 2005, 02:17 PM

It might partly explain the excellent traction they've been getting lately.

Posted by: ustrax Jul 6 2005, 02:37 PM

Hi Doug

We'll, we always may say that we're not moving but we're SEING it...

Posted by: john_s Jul 6 2005, 03:06 PM

Those crazy pinnacles look a *lot* like "Pot of Gold" back at Hank's Hollow a year ago- presumably PoG was a detached piece of a rock similar to Independence.

Posted by: ustrax Jul 6 2005, 03:23 PM

Doug, in the center of your image...Is it possible that we could be seing the Husband Hill old shore?...
Looks like water pulled back, not like sediments fell from the top, and the material is quite different...More above, a sandy beach and rocks, lower, hard soil.
Sure would like to see a mroe global vision at this height.

Posted by: djellison Jul 6 2005, 03:39 PM

Who knows - as I understand it the theory is that the crater formed, then it got wet, and THEN verbose volcanism filled it in. How much a 'shoreline' would survive that I dont know - but it's highly tempting to imagine water lapping up against that little piece of outcropped layered rock isnt it?

Doug

Posted by: ustrax Jul 6 2005, 03:55 PM

You've got the picture...

Posted by: RNeuhaus Jul 6 2005, 04:12 PM

I am also thinking that your theory is tempting. The other clues is that on the top of this hill there are line of rocks of different colors. These are probably lines of water marks.

Rodolfo

Posted by: ustrax Jul 6 2005, 04:16 PM

Well...Just playing around the hills...

http://www.zippyvideos.com/53546044566855.html

Posted by: Myran Jul 7 2005, 05:30 PM

Locally we have a set of old shorelines from prehistoric lakes that was around for a couple of thousands of years at the end of the last iceage.
Even after thousands of years of weathering and partially overgrown the watermarks from those lakes are more pronounced than the one we see here.
So I would say that suggest that if that really are such, that the water only had that level for a (geologically speaking) rather short time.

Posted by: dvandorn Jul 7 2005, 06:16 PM

Remember the time scales. The old glacial lakes in your area probably existed during the last ice age, about 20,000 or so years ago, right?

Gusev Lake probably dried up at *least* several million years ago, and with the prominence of the basalts and pyroclastic materials overlying the ancient lakebed, it could have dried up more than two *billion* years ago.

Little wonder that shorelines are more obvious around lakes that only existed a tiny fraction of the time ago than lakes likely existed on Mars...

-the other Doug

Posted by: alan Jul 7 2005, 11:21 PM

Anyone know what created the arrow pressed into the soil in this image
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/p/534/2P173770633EFFACAQP2444L7M1.HTML

Posted by: BruceMoomaw Jul 8 2005, 02:20 AM

The trouble is that the MER team is now quite certain that the Columbia Hills are NOT lakebed sediments -- they're not remotely water-modified enough for that. They seem to consist of powdered basaltic rock (from several different locations) that was delivered to Gusev's floor either as volcanic ash or as powdered giant-impact ejecta, and then exposed to modest amounts of groundwater moisture (maybe even in the form of steam accompanying the original volcanic ash). And the Hills unquestionably predate the later dry-basalt lava flows that covered most of Gusev's floor about 3.2 billion years ago, by which time most of the previous floor had eroded away leaving only isolated outcrops like the hills. So if Gusev ever did serve as a lake, its lakebed must be even older and either completely eroded away or deeply buried.

Posted by: Myran Jul 8 2005, 03:08 AM

You are almost right, but they are rather from the later part of the ice age, about 10 000 years ago when the ice had started to melt which created these lakes.

Here on Earth we've had continous active geological processes, read erosion etc.
But I agree with you its very hard to compare when the conditions on the two worlds are so different.

But 2 billion years, Im inclined to believe that, river and lakes are a thing of the very remote past here.

Posted by: jvandriel Jul 8 2005, 09:59 AM

A panoramic view of Gusev Crater and Westspur taken by the L2 Pancam on Sol 531.

jvandriel

Posted by: TheChemist Jul 8 2005, 10:41 AM

Ustrax did it, to point the way to Ultreya

Posted by: djellison Jul 8 2005, 10:46 AM

It's where a wheel stopped - and then turned I believe

Doug

Posted by: dilo Jul 8 2005, 08:38 PM

Sol531 PanCam L257 horizon mosaic (Do not know if anyone already posted... )

Posted by: crabbsaline Jul 9 2005, 06:22 AM

Hello,

Can anyone please explain what "Li's BA data" is? See number 3 in this 128K pic:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-spirit/images/MERA_A530_travstat_2.jpg

Above image is arrived at via the below webpage:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-spirit/spirit-sol530.html

Thanks,

Brad

Posted by: slinted Jul 9 2005, 09:34 AM

Not sure what the BA data is, but Li is Dr. Ron Li, of the http://shoreline.eng.ohio-state.edu/.

Posted by: crabbsaline Jul 9 2005, 12:21 PM

Thanks, slinted. That may have helped narrow my search.

I've been digging through acronymfinder.com to try to locate the meaning of this, and the closest thing I can find is "Basal Area". I've been searching and have found at least one site that seems to mention it in context to Mars GIS (and without mention of forests).

I know it's a stretch. However, if this is it, then can anyone help provide a layman's definition of Basal Area, as it might apply to unforested area?

Admittedly, I may very well be wrong in my guess. But the guessing is about as fun as the finding.

Regards,

Brad

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jul 9 2005, 12:39 PM

BA = bundle adjustment. It's a mathematical procedure used to relate positions in one image to positions in another - in this case a panorama and a MOC orbital image, to correlate the two and establish the rover position. BA is more commonly used to find common points in a stereo pair for 3D mapping.

The bundle is the series of lines between common points, the adjustment is the iterative procedure designed to get the best match.

Phil

Posted by: crabbsaline Jul 9 2005, 04:59 PM

Thank You, Phil. I got a good mental image out of that description.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Posted by: ustrax Jul 13 2005, 11:08 AM

Well...As nothing new is seen I've grabbed the available ones from sol 541 and made the Misery Panorama, just to check positions...I'm sure one of this days Nix will astound with a Independence Dream Panorama...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/ustrax/latest.jpg

Posted by: TheChemist Jul 13 2005, 01:58 PM

There are some July 11 mission updates at JPL, plus a Flight Director's Update from July 12.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/flightdir.cfm

Posted by: Of counsel Jul 13 2005, 07:39 PM

There is a large Spirit download at Exploratorium.

Posted by: alan Jul 13 2005, 08:37 PM

5x3 mosaic of sol 541 images
http://s05.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/1263/spirit541R2.jpg

Posted by: Tman Jul 13 2005, 08:49 PM

Hey Alan, the pics are smaller there?!? How...

...However it's a lovely thing to see it!

Ups, just I see it how
Great, it is in front again.

Posted by: Nix Jul 13 2005, 10:41 PM

Just got home from a day at the shore, nice to things updated! Thanks Alan, one for the collection.
This is a southwest view, man I love that rugged horizon! I tried to emphasize it somewhat.



http://www.awalkonmars.com/A1537PCPC8R7E1southwest%20view.jpg

Nico

Posted by: jvandriel Jul 15 2005, 11:22 AM

Here is the complete panorama ( until now ) from Husband Hill and Gusev Horizon taken with the L 5 Pancam on Sol 537.

jvandriel

Posted by: jvandriel Jul 15 2005, 11:48 AM

Maybe it is the start of a complete 360 degree panorama at Husband Hill.
Here are the solar arrays of Spirit and part of Husband Hill.
Taken with the R2 Pancam on Sol 541-542 and 543.

jvandriel

Posted by: SFJCody Jul 15 2005, 12:07 PM

New update:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html

"Sols 544 and 545 (July 14 and 15): The plans for these sols are for a 25-meter (82-foot) drive followed by a sol of remote-sensing observations from the new location."

Here are the L7s/R1s from the sol 544 drive:

http://marswatch.astro.cornell.edu/merweb/merweb.pl?choice=obs_summary&obsidtext=A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20ops544p244805%201&rover=A&test=ops

Posted by: SFJCody Jul 15 2005, 01:22 PM

Sol 544 now up at jpl:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/f/544/2F174665525EFFACEHP1212L0M1.JPG

Posted by: RedSky Jul 15 2005, 02:07 PM

West Spur and the light colored dunes south of it are dropping below the hill's edge horizon. Looks like she's headed upslope. Is this the start of a direct assult to the summit?

Posted by: ustrax Jul 15 2005, 03:19 PM

Yeap...

CHAAARGE!!!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v352/ustrax/charge.jpg

Posted by: Nix Jul 15 2005, 04:16 PM

up is the way!

Posted by: jvandriel Jul 15 2005, 06:29 PM

The way to the summit of Husband Hill.
Panorama taken with the L Navcam on Sol 544.

jvandriel

Posted by: Phillip Jul 15 2005, 06:50 PM

That's a wonderful view. There is some interesting layering straight ahead, which is where I am betting Spirit will go and then from there make a 45 degree turn to the right and up to the summit!

Posted by: Tman Jul 15 2005, 08:14 PM

Hi Nico, the crater in the foreground is as well not bad!

http://www.greuti.ch/spirit/spirit_pancam_sol537R7.jpg

Has it already a name? I guess it is rather deep.

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jul 15 2005, 08:25 PM

Those views across Gusev are inspirational - I can't wait for the full Monty from the top of the hill!

Posted by: SFJCody Jul 18 2005, 10:21 AM

Post-drive L7/R1 (sol 547)

http://marswatch.astro.cornell.edu/merweb/merweb.pl?choice=obs_summary&obsidtext=A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20ops547p235006%201&rover=A&test=ops

(not yet up)

Perhaps we will see McCool Hill again before the end of the week.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jul 18 2005, 01:07 PM

Bob... you're going to do the full Monty from the top of the hill? Well, give us ample warning so we can be looking the other way... Clarke Hill never looked so interesting before!

Phil

Posted by: SFJCody Jul 18 2005, 04:06 PM

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/rear_hazcam/2005-07-18/2R174928196EFFACFZP1312L0M1.JPG

Closer... closer...

A ton of new images at the exploratorium:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/

New maps at jpl:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-spirit/index.html

Posted by: akuo Jul 18 2005, 07:10 PM

Not counting today's drive, Spirit was only about 120 metres from Summit 2. Does anybody want to estimate today's driven distance?

We could be at the summit by the end of the week!

Posted by: Nix Jul 18 2005, 07:34 PM

Yes! Food on the table...

http://www.awalkonmars.com/

Very nice to see the new traverse maps!
Nico

Posted by: GregM Jul 19 2005, 01:43 AM

.

Posted by: GregM Jul 19 2005, 02:17 AM

.

Posted by: Nix Jul 19 2005, 04:20 AM

You could be right GregM, there is something 'behind' the horizon, looking at the maps it just might be S2. Or it is the opposite edge of the trough(unlikely).
We'll have to see if those two knobs don't turn out to be steep small-scale protrusions impossible for the rover to climb. I agree the 'flat' top should be very close now.
Nico

Posted by: Nix Jul 19 2005, 06:29 AM

There IS a 'rim' visible in this anaglyph from sol 546. And a 'lonely' rock in the middle


http://www.awalkonmars.com/A1546PAPC8L2R2E1.jpg

Posted by: djellison Jul 19 2005, 06:54 AM

the left edge of Summit two might be the end of Ten.Val

If you consider the old Larry pan - look right up the end of the valley and it's quite steep - almost a bit of a cliff up there. We might be seing that in profile.

Doug

Posted by: TheChemist Jul 19 2005, 07:07 AM

Well, the view to the South and East will be breathtaking from several positions in the "flat top", so it doesn't not actually matter if we conquer one or both of the summits.

If the science doesn't merit going up the last 5-10 meters to one of the summits, so be it.
It's not like there are other mountaineers around ready to steal the glory

Posted by: Nix Jul 19 2005, 09:18 AM

It crossed my mind too Doug, that rim could well be just the end of the valley.

Nico

Posted by: ustrax Jul 19 2005, 09:44 AM

I believe Greg is correct, that we are seing Summit #02 Nix, from the crop he posted on Doug (amazing) elevation map,

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=928

and if Spirit is orientated on the arrow direction, the only possibility I see is that being the summit, by the way, I enjoyed a lot the approach of Greg on this post.

I would love a view over Ultreya on Sol 555...What a cosmic that would have...

Posted by: djellison Jul 19 2005, 09:57 AM

If you look at the easterly Husband peak from the Larrys Lookout panorama



I think that's what might be appearing over the false horizon

Doug

Posted by: ustrax Jul 19 2005, 10:06 AM

You can be correct Doug but by the detail on the rocks they look close enough to me, just around the corner...I guess that two more days snapping some shots around we'll be certain on this.

Posted by: edstrick Jul 19 2005, 10:33 AM

I kept looking at the structures in the hills as we approached a year ago.. trying to make sense of the smoother troughs and rougher patches and seeming armored caps overlying softer material. I just can't match color and geology, since most of the visible color is in the fines and the adhering dust and other coatings on the rocks. There's correlations, but it's partly "geometry", controlling where stuff adheres to rock and where it's stripped.

What I really would like are datasets where they combine stereo data from the rovers taken before and after a 10 or 50 meter drive. Optimally at the same time of day, so lighting variations are minimizedl.

I just can't get the feel of the terrain from the perspective of rover images and trying to match it to the resolution-limit detail of the best orbital views. It doesn't help that I do *NOT* have usable stereo vision (left eye amblyopia.. I can't fuse RL stereo, much less stereo image pairs. About 10% of the population is stereo-blind, about the same fraction that has some form of color blindness.) But they should be able to make long-base-line stereo models with rover data, then play rendering tricks with the data. I'm so frustrated they haven't ever done any I've seen.

Posted by: ustrax Jul 19 2005, 10:39 AM

Along with what I've said, looking at this one:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2005-07-18/2P174302539EFFACB9P2297L6M1.JPG

it looks to me that the far side of the valley wall goes doen in the horizon...

Posted by: ustrax Jul 19 2005, 02:31 PM

I'm convinced it is the summit...Just waiting for an official announcement...
GregM...Spotter of Martian Summits... is the man of the moment!!!

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b14/ustrax3/ramp9.jpg

Posted by: general Jul 19 2005, 03:47 PM

Almost there....
New images (sol 548):
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/spirit.html

Posted by: ustrax Jul 19 2005, 04:16 PM

Quicker than Ultreya's shadow!
I'm amazed with the adventure, aren't you?:


http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b14/ustrax3/amazement.jpg

Posted by: ustrax Jul 19 2005, 04:17 PM

Enjoy that 'navacam' assembly...

Posted by: Sunspot Jul 19 2005, 04:18 PM

I love this view out across Gusev:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/548/2N175019301EFFACI7P0665L0M1.HTML

Posted by: ustrax Jul 19 2005, 04:23 PM

I'm getting so excited that I almost feel horny thinking on Ultreya...

Yes! Look at the details coming out!

Somehow that patch leading to the Ultreya area looks higher than I expected...That caught me by surprise...I expected that the terrain went down...The old Ultreya stream wall?!?


I'm getting so excited that I almost feel horny thinking on Ultreya...

Posted by: TheChemist Jul 19 2005, 04:37 PM

Ok, so far we have a guy who wants to do the full monty ontop of a martian hill, and another one who gets excited by a martian geological formation

Where is this forum heading to ?

Posted by: ustrax Jul 19 2005, 04:39 PM

Waahuhu!!!
It's the old Plata Gate wall in full splendour!
Ultreya is just ahead!:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b14/ustrax3/pg.jpg
I even repeated the horny subject...I'm wet...

Posted by: general Jul 19 2005, 05:21 PM

Here's what I think the panorama shows:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a250/Moolie/mars_gusev_view.jpg

Posted by: odave Jul 19 2005, 05:33 PM

I really hope the tau drops so we can get a good look at Gusev's rim in the distance. That would be the "money" shot for me.

Posted by: alan Jul 19 2005, 06:02 PM

Fixed the horizon for 548 panorama
http://s05.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/1274/pano548.jpg

Posted by: Nix Jul 19 2005, 06:39 PM

So good to see the mesas again! and the 'other side of the Hills; there appears to be some depression between the base of the southern tip of the Hills and the big crater at right. Above HH the other hilltop is visible too I think.
Nice update Alan

I will join in on the full monthy if one takes me to the summit

Nico

Posted by: RNeuhaus Jul 19 2005, 08:13 PM

Interesting passage. Lots of small stones on the top of the summit. This is not normal. The top of a mountain, normally has big stones and few small stones. The found hollow on the right of the picture, these maybe is a depression covered by wind sand. These stones have sharp edge or are cut and shaped by one side by the wind effect. I have the impression that these stones are the product of some kind of explotion (a fallen meteorite)

Rodolfo

Posted by: Burmese Jul 19 2005, 08:29 PM

I suspect the presence of all these rock shards is normal for the way things weather on Mars. What was once a solid caprock probably broke down over the millenia from cycles of heat and cold and chemicals working their ways into the cracks and expanding them. Wind removes some dust but the rocks do not 'weather' at anything approaching the rates on Earth and there is little to push the smaller ones downhill.

Posted by: john_s Jul 19 2005, 10:30 PM

I'm attaching my interpretation of what we are seeing in the middle ground in this wonderful new view to the south. The first glimpse of the Inner Basin since Sol 153, only this time we'll get much better views soon!

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jul 19 2005, 11:45 PM

I didn't actually want to do the Full Monty at the top of the hill, it was just that Phil got a bit, well, confused. More the 'Phil Monty' than anything else, I think.

And please keep that strange man from The Abyss away from me!

Posted by: Marcel Jul 20 2005, 06:38 AM

I wonder what this gully system at point A looks like from up close ! Looks fluvial to me......

Posted by: general Jul 20 2005, 07:06 AM

I took another good look at Spirit's latest photos, and I now know that my first interpretation of the view was wrong. Here's what I think is what we see in the Spirit panorama of sol 548:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a250/Moolie/spirit_sol_548.jpg

Posted by: jvandriel Jul 20 2005, 09:56 AM

A panoramic view of Gusev Crater and Westspur.
Taken with the L6 Pancam on Sol 539.
The original panoramic view is 18.2 MB and consist of 27 photo's.

jvandriel

Posted by: ustrax Jul 20 2005, 10:02 AM

Hey Nix, if someone took me to the summit I would even kiss Shaw's butt...If he just stopped running away from me...

Imagine...We can arrive the summit today, tomorrow, maximum till the end of the week...great, g-r-e-a-t, GREAT, JUST GREAT!!!

Posted by: djellison Jul 20 2005, 10:30 AM

Carefull of saying 'by....' - because you never know, they might stop at more rocks on the way

Doug

Posted by: general Jul 20 2005, 10:49 AM

On the latest traverse map (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/tm-spirit/images/MERA_A544_travstat_3.jpg), there's "Another lookout/outcrop" at the end of the trough. Maybe Spirit would want to have a look there first before climbing the summit?

Posted by: jvandriel Jul 20 2005, 10:57 AM

A panoramic view to the summit of Husband Hill.
Taken with the L6 Pancam on Sol 540.


jvandriel

Posted by: ustrax Jul 20 2005, 11:14 AM

ok...Bets on the first of Ultreya?

Sol 555 (How I would enjoy that...)

Posted by: Nix Jul 20 2005, 11:15 AM

Nice updates Jvandriel! Now when will we see the L2's?
Maybe the next possible stop for outcrop offers a glimpse of the basin at the same time so I don't mind, they're getting there! Great work! How many times do YOU check the updates these days?
Nico

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jul 20 2005, 11:23 AM

I'm running, I'm running!

Halfway to Home Plate ten minutes ago...

Posted by: jvandriel Jul 20 2005, 11:23 AM

A rocky road ahead to the summit of Husband Hill.
Taken with the L7 Pancam on Sol 547.

jvandriel

Posted by: jvandriel Jul 20 2005, 11:25 AM

This panorama taken on Sol 548 with the L 7 Pancam.

jvandriel

Posted by: ustrax Jul 20 2005, 11:36 AM

I still can't, in spite of all of you guys great work, understand, from all this panoramas, where the heck is summit #02...But I'm getting used to this lack of martian orientation...

Hey Bob, can you see Ultreya from there?!?

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jul 20 2005, 11:40 AM

Yes, clearly - and it's full of stars!

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jul 20 2005, 11:43 AM

Whoops, sorry, bad typing. I meant to say, 'stairs'. A veritable staircase, sweeping grandly upwards to the spindly Martian villa in the shade of the tinkling glass-trees...

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jul 20 2005, 11:45 AM

No, sorry, wrong again. It was 'stares'. They're watching, you know. And waiting, oh yes. But I'm safe, I'm going to hide under my towel.

Posted by: ustrax Jul 20 2005, 11:47 AM

Yes Bob, a magnificent in situ report!
Watch out for that villa's mad martian dog!

...And I thought there was too much sun in here...

Posted by: ustrax Jul 20 2005, 11:52 AM

Stars, stairs, stares...

You look happy Bob...Even a bit excited...If I may say so...

Posted by: djellison Jul 20 2005, 01:15 PM

I think we'll 'emerge' between the summits to be honest - so it's difficult to identify them at this point. We will barely spot them when we're there as well

Doug