No, it says that the drive was aborted when it noticed that the turn wasn't working, not that it aborted the drive then tried to turn. I think the planned turn mentioned was supposed to be mid drive.

It's interesting that the slipping during the drive was not noticed, it should have been shoulden't it? I'd suggest that they write some code that looks at the wheels in the hazcam images to watch for the leading ones disappearing under the dunes!

James

Just read this interesting article about LRO

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/28apr_lro.htm



One per Year? Is this just wishful thinking or have any tentitve plans been mentioned for follow up missions after LRO? If the next one is going to be 2009/10 then I guess some desisions about it will have to be made fairly soon.

James

Or it could be the other way around that the rectangular compressed clumps only stopped coming out once the wheels were spinning with no traction and hence any force from the adhesion of the clumps to the ground was tangential to the wheel rather than normal to it.

What I'm not sure about is, was Opportunity still making progress untill it tried to turn in place? The front wheels don't look any further dug in than the back ones, suggesting that it was not digging itself in further and it had just gone over the dune crest so the going should have been getting easier.

James

I don't think so, looking at the hazcam images, the right side wheels (left side from the point of view of the last drive) are only just over the top of the dune (the trailing wheel (the broken one) is infact right on the top). Given that none of the wheels are completely buried and that from my reading of the CAD file there is about 3cm from the top of the wheels to the underbelly I don't see any way that the rover could be touching the ground in it's current position.

James

At least we have a dedicated thread for this now! It's a little ironic that the discussion has been going on in a thread named "Erebus/victoria Entry & Exploration, Would it be worth it?" when that question seems awfully premature given the current predicament!

I just wish I shared Steve Squyres optimism about Oppy, I'm worried sick! But I guess he knows best, here's hoping

James

Heads up, some of you may be interested to know that the first flight of the new Airbus A380 'super jumbo' is expected to occur tomorrow (Wedensday).

See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4481733.stm

James

Good news!

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/H...collectors.html

RELEASE: 05-102

NASA Announces Key Genesis Science Collectors In Excellent Shape

Scientists have closely examined four Genesis spacecraft collectors, vital to the mission's top science objective, and found them in excellent shape, despite the spacecraft's hard landing last year.

Scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston removed the four solar-wind collectors from an instrument called the concentrator. The concentrator targets collected solar-oxygen ions during the Genesis mission. Scientists will analyze them to measure solar-oxygen isotopic composition, the highest-priority measurement objective for Genesis. The data may hold clues to increase understanding about how the solar system formed.

"Taking these concentrator targets out of their flight holders and getting our first visual inspection of them is very important," said Karen McNamara, Genesis curation recovery lead. "This step is critical to moving forward with the primary science Genesis was intended to achieve. All indications are the targets are in excellent condition. Now we will have the opportunity to show that quantitatively. The preliminary assessment of these materials is the first step to their allocation and measurement of the composition of the solar wind," she said.

The targets were removed at JSC by a team from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N.M., where the concentrator was designed and built.

"Finding these concentrator targets in excellent condition after the Genesis crash was a real miracle," said Roger Wiens, principal investigator for the Los Alamos instruments. "It raised our spirits a huge amount the day after the impact. With the removal of the concentrator targets this week, we are getting closer to learning what these targets will tell us about the sun and our solar system," he added.

The Los Alamos team was assisted by JSC curators and Quality Assurance personnel from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Curators at JSC will examine the targets and prepare a detailed report about their condition, so scientists can properly analyze the collectors. The targets will be imaged in detail and then stored under nitrogen in the Genesis clean room.

Genesis was launched Aug. 8, 2001, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on a mission to collect solar wind particles. Sample collection began Dec. 5, 2001, and was completed April 1, 2004. After an extensive recovery effort, following its Sept. 8, 2004, impact at a Utah landing site, the first scientific samples from Genesis arrived at JSC Oct. 4, 2004.

Still imagery of scientists removing the concentrator targets is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/genesis/...eam_images.html

Video to accompany this release will air on the NASA TV Video File at 3 p.m. EDT today. NASA TV is available on the Web and via satellite in the continental U.S. on AMC-6, Transponder 9C, C-Band, at 72 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. It's available in Alaska and Hawaii on AMC-7, Transponder 18C, C-Band, at 137 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 4060.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz.

For more information about the Genesis mission on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/genesis

Quite a few route maps (to Sol 450) have been posted by NASA here:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/pre.../20050419a.html

JC

Wow! Now that's fame!

JC

Ok, so I'm 28 and come from the land of concrete cows and roundabouts. However I'm now living at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia (slightly differenent!) and 'sometimes' come into work, where I'm paid to try and understand extragalactic radio jets like this...





JC

I don't know how well the MASCONs are mapped, but I don't think that really matters as they essentially make any lunar orbit unstable to some degree. I think if they were to ever lower SMART-1 to this kind of altitude it would be end of mission fairly quickly.

J.

I was at a talk by one of the co-investigators on the MARSIS (water finding radar) instrument last night, at which a few interesting tit-bits came out that I thought I'd share with you folks...

1) MARSIS IS going to be deployed. The current date for this is the end of May (although is overhead said April, so don't hold your breath!). However, they are still not completely sure that it will not malfunction, it seems to be a case of its worth the risk given the instruments potential.

By the way, for those of you that don't know the problem with MARSIS is that the antennae are folded up in a concertina like way but there is insufficient damping at the bends. Thus after it extends it will start to fold up again potentially hitting the spacecraft or even worse, wrapping around it! Not good in any case.

2) It appears that the MARSIS data (if we ever get any!) is going to be VERY difficult to process and may be impossible for some regions due to surface roughness, residual magnetic field and/or ionosphere. I got the impression that even after lots of modeling no one is really sure how well it's going to work.

JC

Haven't seen this posted here yet (sorry, I missed the post if it has) but the long awatied article by Bruce Moomaw has appeared on Space Daily:

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-future-05f.html

Very intersting.

Cheers,

JC

Fantastic, that has got to be the best news of the year so far!!

J

I'm guessing this is going to be on the rover itself as it's using the skycrane EDL method? If so, could this flashy colour video be used on the surface post landing? I guess the big question is can it even focus on objects that close? If so, it could provide some nice close up pictures of the terrain it's crossing.

Another thought: If they mounted one of these on the skycrane we would get the coolest video ever made as the rover is lowered to the surface!

JC

That picture is a great Christmas present Doug. Thanks, how did you know what I wanted!

James

Judging from the background that looks more like Spirit. Hence it would seem to me that Spirts much lower power situation is the result of SABOTAGE!

Hope everybody's having a great Christmas and new year.

Cheers, James

Why am I reminded of Beagle 2 when I look at these pictures?!!

James

That is one fantasic picture Doug! And I can't even imagine how hard it must have been to create.

What with this and Oppy heading for the heatsheld, it's a good time for the pictures I find the most facinating, those showing man made equipment on another world. They really drive home the fact that these are real places that we are exploring.

James

A lot of infomation, including the time the picture was taken, is encoded in the image filenames.

A useful little program for extracting this has been posted to this forum, see

http://mer.rlproject.com/index.php?showtopic=109

JC.

Yes it would be nice to see a proper annular eclipse.

Does anyone have any idea how common these eclipses are? I'm guessing were in an 'eclipse season' right now and they are not going to keep coming so often.

JC.

And another, better this time





JC.

Lander is in a few of todays pics on exploratorium

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pancam/2004-03-06/

Think there is only L7 & R1 there at the moment though:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...20P2427L7M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...20P2427R1M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...20P2427L7M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/pa...20P2427R1M1.JPG

JC.

I think you can just start to see over the crater rim at the far left of this pic. It's much more noticable if you look at the next image in the pan.

Here

Looks like we might start to get a good view soon!

JC

Looks like Opportunity has snapped the same picture again, this time in the afternoon so that the sun is on the crater wall!

Example raw image here.

JC.