They finished the student sundial program some time ago - so I'm not sure they'd be that bothered.

Doug

Looks like it was part of a full L2->L7 + r's sequence that they sometimes do - I've bagged the RAD's from the workbook but only the RTH's are down so far, the thumbnails - but hey - see for yourself

I know the recent dust-devils have shown evidence of high wind speeds, but I didnt think we'd see this



Doug

Who, me ?

Hell no - it's a healthy discussion

Doug

I make the main flat part -1385m, the etched terrain -1380m, and the rim of Vic -1375m

A total of 5m altitude change at the etched terrain - and a further 5 at Victorias rim.

Victoria itself would appear to be -1410 at its deepest - making it, from rim to bottom - about 35m deep - excavating to a depth some 25m below our current altitude.

Doug

I've tried - but the results are no good - to do proper Super Res - you need to have the camera actually moving a tiny ammount. With MER they did just that - move it around a little. With MPF - they moved it away, then back to supposedly the same position but slack in the mechanism made it slightly different. Huygens just sat there - so every pixel is looking at the identical patch of ground for the full series of images.

Doug

Vostok always looked flat to me - MOC imagery showed no elevation.

However - there is almost certainly ( and infact, we can almost see in Erebus from where we are now ) quite a lot of elevation there.

Doug

Instead of wasting my tax money on a misison like Exo Mars - I would MUCH rather they worked on a unique and important mission like Netlander. THAT - is something ESA could do - THAT would be worth doing. Trying to compete with NASA for the flagship stuff is pointless and ultimately consigned to fail

Doug

THanks P - that's what I was going to do when I got in to work

Doug

Consider the NASA Phoenix mission. It's half built already, has $400m in funding in place, and is launching 2007. The 2009 MSL for which they have plenty of funding and plenty of heritage is probably going to get pushed on to 2011.

ESA have no funding in place, no pre-cursor mission in place which they insist must occur before ExoMars, no heritage of any succesfull mars lander. 2009 is a bad joke, 2011 is quite a bad joke. Exo Mars isnt happening this decade - and frankly I find it hard to believe it'll happen before 2015 if at all -at which time it'll be redundent as the science it's intending to do will have been done by MSL - probably twice.

Doug

As John said - not until after launch. The exact launch date will define where the jovian moons will be at the flyby - and launch windows and elv's being what they are - the only time you can guarentee when you're going to leave the ground is when you've done it :0

Doug

In the very middle of your mosaic is the small crater just to the West of our current location - and then 4 to 5 frames to the left of it is - going from right to left - Voyager, then Viking.

I'm amazed to see so many people saying "I still dont think we see them" or "It cant be viking".

It is. That is whee we are. They're right there in front of us. Alan has us nailed with that most recent location image.

Doug

I dont. Not a chance within the next decade.

But this is the right place to discuss is 'Past and Future'

Doug

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_r0500651.jpg
Ascraeus Mons


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_sp124401.jpg
Amazonis Olympus

I've gone thru most of the wide angle images under the 'Images that include the limb of Mars or other targets off the surface of Mars" catagory - and I may have a poke around for other wide angle images with a large footprint in the first batch as well ( the Aerobraking and Suplimental stuff)

Doug

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_r0500315.jpg
Arsia Mons


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_sp237701.jpg
Tharsis


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_sp238601.jpg
Phlegra Tartarus


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_sp239201.jpg
Olympus Mons

Doug

Not before 500 imho - more likely 520 I think.

Considering how long the last 200m to get to LL took - and despite the improved power situation, the many scientific targets on the way up - I dont think it's a quick jog to the top of the hill, but a slow walk.

Doug

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_ab104501.jpg
Wide Angle Global Push-Broom over Tharsis


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_r0500191.jpg
Looking West toward Olympus Mons


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_r1303897.jpg
Meridiani during MER-B Landing


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_sp126301.jpg
Olympus Mons (You've probably seen a similar image to this - I thought I'd have a go myself)


http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...gs_sp255001.jpg
North Pole

Enjoy

Doug

This is like the good driving terrain we had before LL - the sort of dust+cobbles seems quick tractionable.

The road ahead doesnt look too bad actually - certainly as far as that skyline about 10m away

It took us 100 sols to get to LL from just down the hill - progress is tough and awkward and stop-start climbing up complex hills.

The last 3 sols appear to have had driving in the right direction though - in the 5-20m range

No insider info from this quarter though

Doug

Alan nailed it with this image

http://img236.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img236&ima...toerebus5vp.jpg

Thats where we are. That L4 image is looking west past a small crater - the other images are looking south toward viking and voyager

Doug

The next 6 months is due for release in the first week of April - just got word from the PDS about it

Doug

Thats about right - we're probably no more than 20-30m SE of LL

Doug

No - we're still a long way from the summit - it's a common optical illusion that the summit is closer than you think> There's a good half km to the summit from here

If you look at Alans map two posts up - we're about where the 1 of 410 is written

Doug

In about the same place - a little closer

http://207.7.139.5/mars/opportunity/forwar...08P1110L0M1.JPG

Doug

Looking further up the hill toward Husband Hill

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/doug_im...spirit_A912.jpg

Doug