Southward from San Antonio to the Next Waypoint |
Southward from San Antonio to the Next Waypoint |
Apr 4 2010, 05:42 PM
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#31
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Member Group: Members Posts: 399 Joined: 28-August 07 From: San Francisco Member No.: 3511 |
Should we then, expect a cleaning event on the brae sometime soon?
Is the long trek actually possible without one? -------------------- 'She drove until the wheels fell off...'
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Apr 4 2010, 05:58 PM
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#32
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4252 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
It's worth keeping in mind that the upcoming drop down to Endeavour has a slope of only a percent or so. Meridiani is very flat. I'd be surprized if that gave much venturi effect, though I'm really not sure about this. I could see local features (craters) or large scale features (Endeavour rim) affecting the winds.
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Apr 4 2010, 08:48 PM
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#33
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 4279 Joined: 19-April 05 From: .br at .es Member No.: 253 |
It was executed some hours ago but I would call it "aborted" or so. The net move was just 1m. |
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Apr 4 2010, 09:19 PM
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#34
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Whups. Haven't had that happen for awhile, right?
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Apr 4 2010, 09:24 PM
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#35
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Word has it Oppy refused to move because the drive coincided with the last episode of "Wonders of the Solar System"...
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Apr 5 2010, 09:06 AM
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#36
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Member Group: Members Posts: 813 Joined: 8-February 04 From: Arabia Terra Member No.: 12 |
Please don't be a dead wheel, please don't be a dead wheel...
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Apr 5 2010, 09:39 AM
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#37
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1443 Joined: 26-July 08 Member No.: 4270 |
Re: SFJCody'
Ahh fudge there went my whole day. Guess I'm slacking off on the pessimism. Unless we hear otherwise, I'm going to assume it was just a software glitch. -------------------- -- Hungry4info (Sirius_Alpha)
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Guest_Sunspot_* |
Apr 5 2010, 10:53 AM
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#38
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Guests |
And this isnt a very interesting place to spend the rest of the mission, at least Spirit had something interesting to look at while stuck.
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Apr 5 2010, 11:02 AM
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#39
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Member Group: Members Posts: 206 Joined: 15-August 07 From: Shrewsbury, Shropshire Member No.: 3233 |
I asked Scott Maxwell the following question on his blog:
http://marsandme.blogspot.com/ I found Opportunity's rate of progress around SOL 400 amazing. I have heard rumours that Opportunity will soon reach easy driving country again. If so then will we be at Endeavour crater sooner than we all expect? Scott's answer was: We will indeed reach a nice flat zone in another kilometer or so. Once we're there, the terrain will again support longer drives, and we're looking into techniques to do those safely with the current hardware. |
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Apr 5 2010, 11:04 AM
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#40
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2998 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
QUOTE the upcoming drop down to Endeavour has a slope of only a percent or so. Meridiani is very flat. I'd be surprized if that gave much venturi effect, though I'm really not sure about this Exactly. This effect is quite small and manifests itself as very subtle changes in the ripple morphology. Erosional/depositional processes are so gentle and can take hundreds or thousands of years to affect changes.--Bill -------------------- |
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Apr 5 2010, 01:49 PM
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#41
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 4279 Joined: 19-April 05 From: .br at .es Member No.: 253 |
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Apr 5 2010, 02:21 PM
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#42
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Member Group: Members Posts: 530 Joined: 21-March 06 From: Canada Member No.: 721 |
Please don't be a dead wheel, please don't be a dead wheel... With Scott's talk of purgatoids lurking about, I'm wondering if we encountered some soft ripple and stopped from slippage. The last turn in place looked a bit... messy? It would be nice to see the latest hazcams but as often seems to happen when something unusual occurs, exploratorium is late in delivering the goods. Coincidence? |
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Apr 5 2010, 02:47 PM
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#43
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
As I recall the wheel current issues were somewhat alleviated by reversing driving direction now and then. I wonder if they have considered a pirouette kind of driving routine for long distances. The rover would drive 40 meters or so, stop and turn 180 degrees and resume driving in the other direction. While that might be hazardous around purgatoids, out on the flat plains it might make sense.
-------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Apr 5 2010, 03:50 PM
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#44
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4252 Joined: 17-January 05 Member No.: 152 |
As I recall the wheel current issues were somewhat alleviated by reversing driving direction now and then. I think rest was found to be more important than reversing direction. Check out this post from Paolo.Paolo's posts are a goldmine of information. In this one he mentions that RF currents drop substantially on bedrock. Perhaps we can expect some drop in current on flat tarmac compared with the current ripples? I'm thinking along the lines of Spirit's wheel resistance in Troy that was reduced when they did the swimming stroke motions? Of course Spirit's case was much more severe. But perhaps a reason to hope for slightly longer drives on the tarmac. |
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Apr 5 2010, 04:02 PM
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#45
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 4279 Joined: 19-April 05 From: .br at .es Member No.: 253 |
I wonder if they have considered a pirouette kind of driving routine for long distances. AFAIK, this kind of manouver was already executed during the long drives right after leaving Victoria. Once again, Paolo is the source. The first 50 or 80m of a drive were covered moving backwards in "blind mode" and the remaining part moving forward in autonav. |
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