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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Opportunity _ First Trenching On Mars

Posted by: DavidVicari Feb 16 2004, 10:18 PM

They attempted their first trenching today. Looks like the soil underneath is a much lighter color.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/f/023/1F130227421EFF0400R0013L0M1.JPG
(Click for larger image)

Posted by: djellison Feb 16 2004, 10:59 PM

Looks quite cool actually - cleaner trench than I expected.

Doug

Posted by: Gray Feb 17 2004, 07:41 PM

But the debris pile to the left of the image looks about the same intensity of color as the surface sediment.

Posted by: SickNick Feb 17 2004, 11:29 PM

Two-way spinning.

"Opportunity Digs; Spirit Advances

"NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has scooped a
trench with one of its wheels to reveal what is below the
surface of a selected patch of soil.

"Yesterday we dug a nice big hole on Mars," said Jeffrey
Biesiadecki, a rover planner at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

"The rover alternately pushed soil forward and backward out of
the trench with its right front wheel while other wheels held
the rover in place. The rover turned slightly between bouts
of digging to widen the hole. "We took a patient, gentle
approach to digging," Biesiadecki said. The process lasted 22
minutes.

if you look, there's also a mound on the right, and that's where the pale soil extends out of the trench, and has been rolled over as the Rover extricated itself.