This is good news. I was hoping that the ripples-- driving surface, actually-- would has as good a pavement as we had during the "North Erebus Detour" or North of Purgatory 1. Keep in the ripple troughs, or the 'half tube' as the drivers call it and we should make good time.

--Bill

Here's Tesheiner's half-pan from 762 in my usual polar form. It's easy to match that triangular outcrop with the latest route map. Presumably we'll be on it after the next drive.

Phil

That was the aim point since they left Erebus on sol 760.
I wonder if they will maintain the current heading (about SSE) after that outcrop or will start driving SE following the rocks...

I suspect that they will go SSE using the rock outcrops as stepping stones whenever they can. Traveling in the troughs is not bad, but there is less uncertainty on rock. Remember that surprise that we had between South Shetland and "The Fourlane".

--Bill

I'm assuming Opportunity is in restricted sols at the moment... any idea how many more days it will last?

Given the current timing Meridiani/JPL I would say Oppy is no longer on restricted sols. However, it's a weekend.

I just checked the tracking web and tomorrow (Sunday) will be driving day.

Check out the bottom right of this panorama. More mini-craters.

Closeup

One on the far left of this picture

Visible here, lower right, with a cosmic ray hit right near it.

Well and truly leaving Erebus behind now. Looks like they made the right decision to explore the west rim rather than take the shorter east rim route south- not much to see from here…

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...RXP1795L0M1.JPG

I am very impressed by these 50M drives, I was expecting something in the 30m distance per drive sol. Is there an simple relationship between drive distance and drive time, based on start/stops for autonav?

I figure it has to do with the fact that they've got more experience driving, and the time spent at the various Purgatories has helped the drivers learn how to drive the rover more efficiently. And with better dune-detection parameters on the wheels (I guess it goes based on resistance), the rover can decide for itself if it's going into dangerous territory.

As I understand it - every X metres, the rover does a single visidom to measure actual progress compared to commanded progress. If there's above Y% slip, the drive aborts.

Doug

Pretty picture from Sol 758: (2x2 Pancam L257 false-color)

Another step on the way to Victoria.
Oppy drove about 45m on sol 765, up to the far edge of that triangular outcrop seen on 762 images.

She didn't take any navcam pics of the track behind her and the sun was relatively high when the cameras were going so I am a little disorientated after this weekends' drive. Would this be the view in the direction of Victoria?

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...YQP0695L0M1.JPG

In any case, it is clear she is moving onto higher ground as the horizon is getting a bit further away, and the dunes in the immediate area look easy. Directly south, though, it looks more rugged:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...YQP0695L0M1.JPG

Oh - a full Navcam pan will have been taken at the end of the drive, but the forward facing images are a higher priority than the backward facing ones, so they'll come down overnight or tomorrow.

Doug