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Posted by: kungpostyle Jan 20 2006, 02:10 PM

Oppy has moved in to position to examine the festoon cross beds.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/forward_hazcam/2006-01-19/1F190953090EFF64KSP1214L0M1.JPG

Posted by: ustrax Jan 20 2006, 03:08 PM

A bit off topic but what can this be?...

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2006-01-20/1P190948650EFF64KCP2666R8M1.JPG

Posted by: Pertinax Jan 20 2006, 03:19 PM

Whoa.

Maybe Oppy had a bright idea and then promptly forgot what it was.

(why it dangerous for amateurs to attempt comedy and lurkers should remain lurkers -- all in one short post! )

-- Pertinax

Posted by: djellison Jan 20 2006, 03:26 PM

http://marswatch.astro.cornell.edu/merweb/merweb.pl?choice=rml_display&rml=/granada_oss/merb/ops/ops/surface/tactical/sol/707/apss/seq/pan/bp2666.06a.pancam_phobos_transit_R8.rml

That's the sequence the image is from - but it's not presenting itself as a sub-frame, it's a partial downlink of a full frame. Not sure what's going on really.

Doug

Posted by: Bill Harris Jan 20 2006, 03:45 PM

As a point of reference, here is a FHazcam showing where we were and where we are.

I noticed the Navam images posted on Exploratorium on 1/20/06 had a soft, overcompressed appearance. Hope there is not a connection with the strange Pancams.

--Bill

Posted by: Shaka Jan 20 2006, 08:39 PM

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/micro_imager/2006-01-20/1M191044985EFF64KSP2957M2M1.JPG

O.K. Festoon MIs coming down! Stitchers, Man your sewing machines!

Posted by: akuo Jan 20 2006, 09:08 PM

The MIs are mostly unfocussed. I hope they didn't bend the arm...

Posted by: kungpostyle Jan 20 2006, 10:35 PM

here is a link to an excellent MI stich by hortonheardawho.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hortonheardawho/89032198/

Posted by: Phillip Jan 21 2006, 12:18 AM

Say three times quickly:

How many tunes would a Festoon fife if a Festoon could fife tunes?

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Jan 21 2006, 12:52 AM

That title sounds like a 1970s spy movie.

Posted by: CosmicRocker Jan 21 2006, 03:04 AM

Nah. I thought it was funny.


I saw those navcams this morning too, and was planning to ask here if anyone had an explanation.


It seems to me that many of the MIs taken since that motor developed a problem have been poorly focused. Could it be that it is now harder to position the MI accurately within the field of view of that camera?

Posted by: Shaka Jan 21 2006, 03:27 AM

Hmmm. They're also from the adjacent rock slab, not the one originally spotlighted for festoon features. I don't think they're as clear in this slab.

Posted by: kungpostyle Jan 21 2006, 04:04 AM

I thought it sounded like the title of a Robert Ludlum novel when I wrote it.

Posted by: Bill Harris Jan 21 2006, 04:19 AM

I wouldn't think so. The stalled motor is in the first "shoulder" joint, which is an azimuth motion. The other two "elbow" joints and the wrist joint serve to position the camera fore-and-aft and up-down (the "focus" motion). We'll see...

--Bill

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Jan 21 2006, 04:37 AM

Actually that's not new. MI's have been out of focus quite frequently. I have observed that they often "bracket" the focus due to the narrow depth of field in the MI camera, most likely to capture peripheral details where there is substantial variation in relief such as in RAT holes.

Posted by: Airbag Jan 21 2006, 04:58 AM

Yes, and so far the ones returned are mostly "one offs". Perhaps they are just the quick previews of more to come from a "bracketed" set from each area of interest?

Airbag

Posted by: CosmicRocker Jan 21 2006, 05:53 AM

Thanks for that. I was hoping to find something to give me a quick and close-up look at these beds. I don't know if the hosting site modified the dimensions of that image, or if something else is the cause, but something looked curious to me. I think it has been streched in the X dimension. The spherical concretions are elliptical, and other features are wider than they are tall in the pancam. A comparison pancam of the area is here: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20060106a.html
Attached, is an Autostiched version. Some of the input images are poorly focused, accounting for the fuzzy areas.

I was a bit surprised that they went for this area, too. Especially after they highlighted the 'other area' with a 2x enlargement. Go figure. I've been staring at this MI mosaic for a long time, and I still wonder what it is that they find so interesting here. Not to suggest that all rocks aren't interesting, but ... hey, give us a clue.

Posted by: CosmicRocker Jan 21 2006, 06:08 AM

Yes. MI sets have often contained many 'less than optimally focused' images. But I think they use slices from those to create 3D models. These are mostly "one-ofs." We should soon see if there will be more MIs of this area, or if they move the arm to another area, or if they move the rover to a new area.

Posted by: Shaka Jan 21 2006, 06:50 AM

You've gotta love the nomenclature on the MER website, though. This is "Lower Overgaard" , so apparently the real target, above to the right, will be "Upper Overgaard". (If they'd had real class, it would have been "Under Overgaard" and "Over Overgaard") (What the hell is Overgaard , anyway? Sounds like a secret ingredient in a deoderant.)

Posted by: Bill Harris Jan 21 2006, 11:40 AM

>What the hell is Overgaard , anyway?

When in the dark, Google. In this context, think AZ and not Norse.

--Bill

Posted by: Shaka Jan 22 2006, 10:02 PM

O.K. Bill, I Googled....and I'm still in the dark. What does either the AZ or the Norse 'answers' have to do with this particular collection of flagstones?
Did some JPL person's mom lose her festoons in Overgaard, Arizona?

Posted by: Bill Harris Jan 23 2006, 01:43 AM

Different Rover sites have "theme" name designation names. The previous site on the Erebus rim had Greek names-- Olympia, for example. The next/current site has a Arizone there-- Mogollon Rim, Payson, Williams, etc.

I may have given a geeky answer to a joking comment...

--Bill

Posted by: Shaka Jan 23 2006, 02:47 AM

Geeez, we better get out of here soon! Arizona doesn't have that many towns!
(Why Arizona towns and not Hawaii towns? What do they have against Hawaii?)

Memo to Steverino requesting flagstone named Kaneohe :

Posted by: lyford Jan 23 2006, 03:00 AM

http://zipcodemars.jpl.nasa.gov/bio-contribution-state.cfm?country_id=US&state_id=AZ hail from that http://europa.la.asu.edu/

Posted by: Shaka Jan 23 2006, 04:16 AM

Elementary, my dear Watson!

I suppose there is still Tombstone, AZ. Trouble is all these slabs look like tombstones.
I'm Sorry! I'M SORRY! When we get moving again I'll be scientific.

Posted by: EckJerome Jan 23 2006, 09:03 PM

It's not just Arizona towns, but central Arizona towns that are near Mogollon Rim. (Arizona's second-grandest but much lesser known natural wonder.) In that context, Tombstone does not fit. Instead, be looking for Heber, Show Low, Pine, and Strawberry.

Posted by: Shaka Jan 26 2006, 12:28 AM

Dear me! I hate to add yet one more note of frustration about our beloved Oppie's lethargy of late. The volume of these moans is already substantial, many of us having contributed more than once. And, of course , nothing much is to be gained by expending more bandwidth. Still I am concerned about what's happening out at Overgaard (Lower or Upper), and I would be grateful if anyone "in the know" could reassure me that we aren't facing more "problems".

We started seeing the first MI images of the slab adjacent (below and to the left) of the slab noted for pontoon... dammit, why can't I remember that word...FESTOON bedding on January 20, when 14 images arrived at Exploratorium. On the 22nd 35 more images appeared, and today (25th) 12 more have appeared. But they are ALL of the same slab and were ALL taken over a 90 minute period 5+ days ago! I can't see any evidence that any more MIs have been taken of anything since!
What ARE we doing? Are we stuck again? Are we doing 4-day long mini-TES analyses? At this rate I am concerned that I might not see Mogollon Rim in my lifetime!
(insert emoticon for banging head on keyboard)

Posted by: lyford Jan 26 2006, 02:40 AM

Any ideas why Oppy is taking almost the same pic of the festoons over and over? Are these for some super rez attempt?
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2006-01-25/1P191137180ESF64KSP2582L6M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2006-01-25/1P191137208ESF64KSP2582L6M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2006-01-25/1P191137237ESF64KSP2582L6M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2006-01-25/1P191137707ESF64KSP2582L6M1.JPG

There's more but you get the idea -

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Jan 26 2006, 02:48 AM

There's probably a corner of a book resting on the edge of someone's keyboard at JPL.

Posted by: Shaka Jan 26 2006, 05:53 AM

Thanx, Dan, and please keep it up! A steady stream of humor might just prevent me from crying in public. Of course, if the recent pictures were of poltroo.!...FESTOONS, I would be jolly! Oppy has lots of filters in her quiver, and should have the chance to shoot them all.
But are we really looking at......(wait for it.)...Festoon Bedding on this particular slab? I'm not at all sure! I don't see the T's Emily informed us about. Can you ,Emily?

Ahhh me. The tribulations of an addict. From the last gasp of MER...to the first touchdown of MSL...eternity...
Enroll me in the first chapter of Marsaholics Anonymous.




.

Posted by: Tesheiner Jan 26 2006, 08:46 AM

According to the data tracking web, more MIs are planned for today (sol 714) and tomorrow.

Posted by: lyford Jan 26 2006, 08:56 PM

Hmm -
More L6 shimmying Pancam goodness - did I miss the memo about this technique? Oppy seems to be imaging the surrounding detail in this manner - is this for a parallax thing or a super rez composition? It looks intentional... I made a QuickTime movie to show the effect:

http://homepage.mac.com/lyford/ramm/L6c.MOV

EDIT - File is much smaller and should stream now - sorry about that

Posted by: Airbag Jan 26 2006, 10:28 PM

More "super res" I'd say. I did play around with those most recent sets of images (6 sets of nominally 16 images each) but I was not satsified that I could really do anything better than reduce the image and jpg noise by stacking the images (which of course is the whole point of stacking when used with low signal/noise astronomical images.)

I'll have to experiment a bit more with "drizzling", but early attempts created too many image artifacts. I'm using the (free) RegiStax software, so feel free to join in :-)

The key to using that software seems to be in disabling the wavelet filtering, which I was only able to do by selecting Gaussian (I think) and then setting all the filter params to 0...but there must be a better way?!

Airbag

Posted by: djellison Jan 26 2006, 10:38 PM

It's super resolution imaging. It's hard to make it worth-while when you use the JPG's - but if you have the RAD's it's quite a 'profitable' exercise. They did it back at Bonneville with Spirit looking at the old Heatshield - and I barely got any results using the JPGs -but using RAD it was much much better

Doug

Posted by: dilo Jan 26 2006, 10:42 PM

Can you show these super-res images of heat shield, Doug?
(I obtained poor results with old jpegs, I recall)

Posted by: djellison Jan 26 2006, 11:11 PM

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=177&hl=heatshield

Posted by: Bill Harris Jan 27 2006, 04:12 AM

Whew, I'd forgotten the tremendous results that you got from stacking those heatshield images. The images of these crossbeds ought to be fantastic when stacked, especially with the low-incidence lighting they used.

--Bill

Posted by: Sunspot Jan 27 2006, 10:40 AM

Did they have to retake ALL the MI shots? Some of the earlier ones did appear a little out of focus.

Posted by: atomoid Jan 27 2006, 11:39 PM

Here is an http://mars.lyle.org/imagery/1M191581392EFF64KSP2936M2M1.JPG.html.
Not the 'half-berry' but the little one next to it. odd because it looks as if its erupted, its not as round as most but its got a strikingly blueberry-like 'top' to it, harking back to the blueberry 'stem' idea raised almost two years ago (!). Strange that its got so much textural contrast between the hemisphere, like Mars itself. well, it looks almost like a strawberry from this angle, guess we need a better look from a different angle...

Posted by: CosmicRocker Jan 28 2006, 07:15 AM

I may be wrong, but I'm guessing they are doing it on purpose, so they can create a 3D model of the outcrop.

Finally, a panorama of Upper Overgaard.

"Science team members next plan to adjust the rover's position slightly to conduct microscopic analysis of another target area, nicknamed "Upper Overgaard."

Edited to add, "Fasten your seatbelts."

Posted by: edstrick Jan 28 2006, 10:27 AM

Atomoid's odd blueberry is obviously a blueberry flavored yogurt-coated-rasin.

:-P

Posted by: dilo Jan 28 2006, 10:54 AM

Tried to make a superres from one Sol712 sequence... results still below my expectations, but some fine detail are more clear:

This is anaglyph from collapsed outcrop (Sol713):

Posted by: jvandriel Jan 28 2006, 02:23 PM

Here is a mosaic taken with the MI camera on Sol 708, Sol 714 and Sol 715.

jvandriel

Posted by: Shaka Jan 28 2006, 07:30 PM

Lovely! Now, is anyone prepared to point out convincing festoon cross-bedding in this view? I'm not.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Jan 28 2006, 10:14 PM

I'm not convinced by the cross-bedding interpretation, never have been. The only think I ever thought looked like it was the 'unconformity' in Endurance. Maybe aeolian cross-bedding cemented by minerals precipitated out of ground water. This - for the most part it looks like parallel bedding exposed on an irregular surface.

Phil

Posted by: Bob Shaw Jan 29 2006, 12:04 AM

Phil:

I don't see it either. It looked as much about erosion as anything...

...still, worth a look - though perhaps not so much as a look as it has had!

Bob Shaw

Posted by: sranderson Jan 29 2006, 06:02 PM

Yep. The erosion is preferential along cracks which cause angular points in the bedding. Reminds me of topographic maps of the southwest: eroded canyons with the contour lines (which are by definition parallel to each other) creating points and waves and T-shapes against the canyon floor.

You really have to look at the rocks from the side to see if any of the beds bend up to form little hats.

Scott

Posted by: sranderson Jan 30 2006, 03:53 AM

The rocks remind me of this:

Posted by: CosmicRocker Jan 30 2006, 04:41 AM

I don't know. These things appear very differently depending on the directions in which they are sliced. I'm guessing (hoping) that the little bump forward we saw today means they will soon start a new campaign of MIs on Upper Overgaard. I thought the pancams of the http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aplan+view on the upper/over section of Overgaard were convincing, if the smiles elsewhere were not.

Posted by: Sunspot Jan 30 2006, 12:15 PM

Where do you think Bellemont and Roosevelt are? They are the rovers next targets...perhaps they are the targets seen in alot of the super res imaging done lately. It looks like we'll be here for along time yet.

Posted by: djellison Jan 30 2006, 12:22 PM

Yes - I think they've been super-res'd recently.

Doug

Posted by: paulanderson Jan 30 2006, 05:25 PM

I think all the MI images so far have been of lower Overgaard (correct me if I'm wrong). Just to note, Steve mentions in his latest update (January 29) that only lower Overgaard was imaged so far and upper Overgaard is now next, which has the festoons.

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

"At Meridiani, Opportunity is moving again. We've found a way to drive short distances with the IDD deployed, and we used it successfully to get to the lower part of Overgaard. The MI imaging there has gone beautifully, and we're about to make a move to the upper part of Overgaard, where the festoons are."

"Once we've hit all the festoons on Upper Overgaard, then there are a couple of other nearby targets we've got our eyes on... one called Bellemont and another called Roosevelt. We'll go after one or both of those, and then it will be time to hit the road in a big way."

Posted by: Jeff7 Jan 30 2006, 07:13 PM

The key words I'm sure everyone wanted to see:

"...then it will be time to hit the road in a big way."

Posted by: Marz Jan 31 2006, 03:06 AM

Then does this imply Oppy will not even bother driving up to Mogollon, and that once the "festoon festivities" are over, she'll blaze a straight line towards Victoria? (well, as straight a line as possible through all these dunes).

Posted by: Zeke4ther Jan 31 2006, 03:43 AM

I don't believe they will pass up Mogollon. Besides, it's on the way. They will at least stop to take a look.

Posted by: CosmicRocker Jan 31 2006, 04:09 AM

I was a little surprised by Steve's statement: "...the upper part of Overgaard, where the festoons are," implying that they might not be present elsewhere. The most spectacular ones are definitely those on Upper Overgaard, but I have been interpreting some on Lower Overgaard (LO) as well. They are perhaps not as well displayed, but I think some can be seen in the lower left corner of LO. Middle LO may also have some, though they seem either more poorly preserved, displayed, or perhaps deformed. Upper LO has some, too. Since that part of the rock has broken away from a lower part of UO, which has some festoon bedding, you can see the continuation of them across the fracture, on upper LO.

For convenience, here is a link to a page where the image is available in several different sizes.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/opportunity/20060106a.html

................................

"festoon festivities"

................................

Regarding Mogollon, when Steve didn't mention it prior to Victoria, it had me wondering also. They wouldn't turn tail and run without a closer look at the section there would they?

Posted by: Bill Harris Jan 31 2006, 04:47 AM

I hope not. I think not. The morphology of the Mogollon area-- the dark "bluff" in particular-- is different enough to warrant a look. Not to mention, in roder to go south they'll have to drive along Mogollon. Going straight across the dunes of the Erebus interior would be foolish.

--Bill

Posted by: Shaka Jan 31 2006, 05:49 AM

Hey, it's CosRok! And he's still able to type!
I guess the teenyboppers didn't tear you limb from limb!
That's always a good sign. Of course we're eager for a blow-by-blow account, assuming you don't mind talking about it.

So, about these festoons . You didn't provide a marked map, but I'm guessing you were referring to areas like those I've circled in puce

Do you realize that the area of 'UnderOvergaard' subjected to close MI study does a rather brilliant job of avoiding these areas?! What on Mars can they be thinking about? Did they want a purely parallel bedding area to compare with OverOvergaard? Or did they just "whip out the IDD" at a random location?
(Personally I think we ought to be a bit more prudent about where we whip it out.) (Especially since Oppy is starting to get a bit 'shaky' at whipping it out!)

Posted by: CosmicRocker Feb 1 2006, 05:54 AM

Yeah. I realized today that I owed some of you an update about how well it has been going. I'll try to do that tonight.

Regarding the festoons, you captured most of those I had in mind. I would have expanded one of your outlines a bit, but I didn't provide a marked image because I was trying to follow Doug's suggestion that we use images hosted elsewhere when possible. I thought I could describe verbally the areas I was speaking of, and apparently you were able and willing to figure it out. The marked-up image does make it easier, though.

There is possibly a good reason to avoid some of those areas with the MIs. They may want to learn more about the festoons in the context of their setting, and then image the festivities where they are best diplayed. The other types of bedding nearby are important to understand, too.

Posted by: dilo Feb 1 2006, 06:19 AM

Nice MI sequence on Sol719, showing the increasing shadow cast from festoons...
(in this movie, I slowed the final part)

Posted by: Shaka Feb 1 2006, 07:34 AM

He He! Dilo, you're the Walt Disney of Mars. I jumped back thinking Rockbiter was about to swallow me!
Ah me...bedtime...Buona notte!

Posted by: Bill Harris Feb 1 2006, 10:09 AM

I think what Doug suggested was to link to an image if it is posted online somewhere else (like at Exploratorium) but it is OK to post modified or "personalized" images here.

---Bill

Posted by: djellison Feb 1 2006, 10:11 AM

Spot on.

Doug

Posted by: Shaka Feb 4 2006, 08:39 PM

New MI's from Middle Over Overgaard. Doesn't anybody want to stitch them together?
(I would, but I don't know how ) I want to see some genyoowine Festoons!

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 4 2006, 08:55 PM

Google autostitch, Shaka.
It's absolutely easy to use and the results are great.

Posted by: OWW Feb 4 2006, 09:05 PM

Plenty MI mosaics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hortonheardawho/

Posted by: Shaka Feb 4 2006, 09:21 PM

Really? Easy for a biologist who can't even fix his own car?
wow...er...Where do you buy it?
Thanx, Tesch!

Posted by: Shaka Feb 4 2006, 09:27 PM

Gee, that's groovy - a shortcut to Horton's stuff without going through that ...er...other forum. (There are some very strange people over there...)
Thanx, O (d'you mind if I call you O? or do you prefer W?) I've bookmarked that page.

Posted by: Jeff7 Feb 6 2006, 06:15 PM

Possibly interesting sidenote concerning layered rock. Not sure if this would even be relevant, as I'm no geologist. Anyway:
It snowed pretty heavy yesterday and through the night, accompanied by strong wind. I'm noticing outside now that the wind blowing on the varying densities of snowfall has created some horizontal layers, much like you'd expect from a rock eroded by wind. This was created without the benefit of liquid water - just simple particle deposition over time. Is something similar at work on Mars' rocks? Just eons of accumulation of small particles?

Posted by: ljk4-1 Feb 6 2006, 06:20 PM

The very fine particles of Martian regolith do act together like a liquid, for what that is worth.

Posted by: Tesheiner Feb 6 2006, 09:45 PM

Have a look to the homepage: http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

Posted by: Shaka Feb 6 2006, 11:39 PM

Oh, for joy! It's even free , hee hee!
I've already downloaded it. Now if I can just tear myself away from Home Plate long enough to install it and read the read.me,...maybe someday... I'll be able to work the magic like you guys do!
Meanwhile, good old reliable hortonheardawho (we really need to recruit this guy to this forum. Though I suppose the other one would wither away if he left.) has put together the MI pan of Upper Overgaard.
This is the direct link:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=96395486&size=l
I hope I haven't violated any code in putting it here. Doug?
I have to say, if there aren't "smiles" and "eyes" and "T"s here, then I will never be able to recognise them. I invite instruction by any skeptics.

Posted by: CosmicRocker Feb 7 2006, 04:11 AM

Ahh, that's pretty, and he was even kind enough to rotate it 180 degrees so it would match the view in the other cameras. Now I have to do one for myself to see it in all it's "Imax" splendor. I would have done one by now, but my Autostitch demo expired and my firewall decided to start blocking zip downloads. (I had to take it aside and slap it a few times.)

Posted by: mhoward Feb 7 2006, 04:37 AM

CR,

If you're talking about the image on Flickr, you can click "Original" size to see it in it's full IMAX-esque glory.

Mike

Posted by: JRehling Feb 7 2006, 06:58 PM

Temperature and humidity are other possible variables involved with the snow layering. The wetter the flakes, the stronger the minilayer should be when the wetness freezes and cements the flakes together.

Mars's rocks come in many varieties with many origins. Snow would be an analogue for rocks built up by deposition of ash or dust. I think it's likely that salty dew has frozen dust together, in various times and places, allowing, for example, craters to become completely filled. That said, if the bedrock at Meridiani consolidated in acidic water, then that would not fit the analogue very well. Gusev on the other hand, might.

Posted by: Jeff7 Feb 7 2006, 10:47 PM

True. In this case though, it was snowing at night, and I saw the layering in the morning, before the dim sunlight coming through the clouds had hit the snow. And it was well below freezing. It's fairly dry, powdery snow too.
If any of that even makes a difference...snow vs Martian dust. Same thing, right?

Posted by: CosmicRocker Feb 8 2006, 05:25 AM

Thanks, Mike. I knew that, but I guess I failed to mention that since I am on a crappy dialup connection, I could more quickly Autostitch the Imax version on this machine than I could download Horton's large one. It's probably something you folks on fatter pipes wouldn't consider.

On a side note, I noticed that Southwestern Bell has recently started bringing a cable into the area and is constructing some kind of small building. I can only pray that DSL is on the horizon.

Posted by: jvandriel Feb 8 2006, 10:16 AM

A mosaic of 21 images taken with the Mi camera on Sol 723.

jvandriel

Posted by: alan Feb 9 2006, 07:47 AM

stitch of 3 microimages from sol 727

Posted by: dilo Feb 10 2006, 07:19 AM

Welcome to the martian caves!

Posted by: Shaka Feb 10 2006, 06:56 PM

Yeah, Dilo. It's this gap-filler that seems to be the point of interest at Roosevelt (Is it Teddy or Franklin D.?), not spontoon bedding. I hope it's scientifically-interesting enough to delay heading for the rim.
Oppy's getting fat; she needs some exercise!

Posted by: bergadder Feb 11 2006, 03:19 PM

Hows the power situation? Are they waiting for a wind clearing event? It's time to get moving, or loose the little beasty out here on the plains. So far from what I have read here, I am not 100% convinced that there was flowing water, unless I missed a key piece.

Posted by: Shaka Feb 11 2006, 07:06 PM

If you ever find anything in science that's 100%, watch out!
We trust our beloved PIs when they tell us that festoons mean sand ripples produced in moving liquid - though that need not imply a Meridiani Sea. Why clear patches of festoons are so rare is not clear to me, but it implies that the process was not a constant occurrence, to say the least. YMMV

Posted by: Marz Feb 12 2006, 12:28 AM

reminds me of a scene from Green Mars, when the students keep asking the prof 'why', and how explanations keep failing at their lowest levels.

It's too bad the mechanical problems have cost so much time, because gathering evidence in support of flowing water is certainly worth it. But at least this delay allowed Spirit to boost its ego; she's now in the lead for all measures of 'endurance': milage, altitude, and age... and she's trying her best to dig up festoons so the scientists recognize her too.

Posted by: RNeuhaus Feb 12 2006, 01:05 AM

Oppy won't be moving from around Olympia site until after the third week of Feb. That is what I have heard in the other topic of Opportunity. That is due to long time miniTES, APXS and MB integration on Roosevelt is taking.- That is due to the increased isotope decay of MB (it containw with two 57Co/Rh Mössbauer sources) and APXS (it contains six Curium-244 alpha sources). The APXS together with the Mössbauer Spectrometer (MB), the Microscopi Imager (MI), and Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) was and will be used to make in-situ measurements of soils and rocks to determine their chemicaol, mineralogical, and textural compositions. In addition to the major elements, the new APXS will also yield data of minor elements such as Na, P, S, Cl, K, Ti, Cr, Mn and some trace elements such as Ni and Zn.

On the other hand, The Mössbauer spectrometer is specially designed to study minerals that contain iron, which are common on the Martian surface. It can determine the composition and abundance of iron-bearing minerals to a high degree of accuracy. One Mössbauer measurement takes about 12 hours. Because the Mössbauer instrument has its own microcontroller, measurements can be performed at night while the rover is "asleep."

Because Mössbauer spectra vary dramatically with changing temperature, measurements will be performed over a range of temperatures spanning both the daytime highs and the nighttime lows.

Most APXS measurements will be taken at night and will require at least 10 hours of accumulation time, although just x-ray alone will only require a few hours. But, that instrument is older and has greater decay of radioactive and the required time to integrate might be twice longer. That point is not sure.

Now, after two years, APXS and MB are taking twice or four time longer to complete the integration when MER landed on Mars.

Rodolfo

P.D.
MER-A 'Spirit'
MB status: Operational
Total number of dataproducts: 144
Separate Targets: 95

MER-B 'Opportunity'
MB status: Operational
Total number of dataproducts: 179
Separate Targets: 114
http://iacgu32.chemie.uni-mainz.de/

Posted by: Sunspot Feb 12 2006, 01:14 AM

The latest Opportunity update would suggest they intend to finish up at Olympia by the middle of next week:

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

The short-term goal is to finish studying the "Olympia" outcrop by mid next week. The final feature that will be characterized in this location is called "Bellemont."

Posted by: djellison Feb 12 2006, 11:08 AM

Yes - MB is taking longer - but go and listen to or read the SDteve QnA - the APXS doesnt suffer the same problem.

Doug

Posted by: jvandriel Feb 14 2006, 10:26 AM

Here is the complete one.

Taken with the Mi on Sol 727.

jvandriel

Posted by: dilo Feb 15 2006, 06:48 AM

A MI stitch from Sol732.