Given that one can not go back in time - when would be the appropriate time to 'backtrack' and look at them?

Doug

There were quite a few cobbles just on the northern rim of Victoria, so they would be a good place to start, only a few days drive away from Duck Bay. After that, I don't think driving back north is necessary. I would do more of the circumnavigation of Victoria, clockwise from those cobbles, looking at the capes again for interesting stratigraphy - is Cape Verde really the only place where we have that deep layered band? Then, head south or southeast into new territory. There's just as much chance of finding meteorites or ejecta out there as there was further north, with the added advantage of potentially interesting new outcrops.

Phil

The cobbles in the D-Star panorama , taken near the very small blocky crater along the north rim of Victoria, definitely caught my eye while they were up there. I'd love to see those up close.

The third attempt to unstow the arm seems to have been a failure too:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ABP1151L0M1.JPG

Should we begin to get nervous?- What are the possible failure modes here?

I wouldn't yet; these guys are good!

Well it looks to me like the problem is with the shoulder joint again. I find the fact that it moved a bit then stopped a bit worrying, the usual problem with the shoulder motor causes it to stall at the beginning. I think there is a very real possibility that the second winding could have broken during deployment which would be very bad news indeed, especially given the current position of the arm (not stowed yet not in a useful deployed position)

Looks like they'll try another unstow on SOL 1507

That's what happened when the first winding died....followed by 3 months of not moving.

Arhgh.

Is there some sort of balance or level sensor, i.e., if the rover is in a precarious tilt, is there a sensor that would keep the IDD from deploying and potentially tipping the rover further?

There is an accelerometer that will tell the rover its own orientation - but even if there were code for 'if tilt > x degrees, don't use IDD' - firstly, we've seen the IDD used on slopes like this - and worse. Secondly, the IDD started to deploy, then stuck at an off-nominal point, and thirdly, any such safety code would get culled when trying to deploy for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th time etc.

Doug

The latest Planetary society monthly report Jake Matijevic said that Oppy could not stay besides Capo Verde for very long because of the limited solar power available at that location. I think that he was also concerned that less power would be available at that location in subsequent months.

Can Oppy survive on the steep South facing slopes at its current location for the rest of the Martian Winter?

I would prefer to see Oppy drive out of Duck bay and onto Cape Frio so that it could spend the 3 months taking a panorama of the cliffs on the North West side of Victoria crater. I guess that a potential problem is that shaking during the drive could further damage Oppy's partialy deployed IDD arm.

A long term issue for Oppy if the IDD can not be made to work is that Oppy would have to find worthwhile jobs to do that would not require the use of the IDD (or of the MiniTES given that that is also not working). A useful task for Oppy might be to complete the circumnavigation of Victoria crater and and take more of those panoramas I like so much.

Currently Oppy is on a mostly east-facing slope, (actually a bit east-southeast facing), so that shouldn't be a serious problem in coming months. Also we're still far enough away from Verde that it shouldn't shade us even at midwinter. But I sure hope the Quackmire doesn't become our long-term home...

Looks like today's attempt to unstow the IDD failed as well :'(

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...ABP1151L0M1.JPG

Yup.
I'm looking forward a status report to get some details on this issue.