After Victoria..., .. what next? |
After Victoria..., .. what next? |
May 28 2007, 02:07 PM
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#101
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
I know we've had rather light-hearted discussions about this before, with most people agreeing that Oppy is likely to end her days inside or on the edge of Victoria Crater, simply because there's nothing else to investigate within reach, but has Steve S got it in his mind that Oppy will head off somewhere else after Victoria? This report could be read in a way that suggests that...
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Feb 13 2008, 05:19 PM
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#102
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Okay, let's look at it from another angle. The Great Genie of Mars pops up from beneath those rippled dust dunes on the floor of Victoria, spins over to Oppy, and with a huge flash and a manic laugh magically grants Oppy another year of "life", guaranteeing that her wheels or steering won't fail, her computers won't crash, her cameras won't dim and die, etc. She's in fine fettle.
You now know you can get to Ithaca... ...but is it worth it? Is there anything to see, or do, once you get there? I can't see any outcrops there, I can't see much at all. The first landforms she'd come up against would be those mountains on the western edge. She's not climbing those, is she? If she heads north, skirting around the mountains and into the crater, what's there? So, it comes down to a simple choice I feel, if you push these engineering and lifespan issues aside. Would it be scientifically useful and rewarding to trek to Ithaca, even if Oppy could? Is Ithaca a more attractive scientific target than the opposite side of Victoria, where we have, if you recall, such as yet unseen and unexplored attractions as Sofi's Crater, Soup Dragon, numerous ridges and slump features, etc? Personally, I'd much rather she finishes up at Gilbert, comes out, and drives on around the edge, continuing and completing her survey of Victoria Crater, than head off towards a destination that looks - if I dare use the word I always hear in my head whenever I look at a photo of it - boring. And if I was Steve S or Jim B or any of the team, if I started to think that Oppy was nearing the end of her days I'd much rather drive her down to the crater floor and becalm her in those dust dunes, where she could end her days with dignity, taking beautiful panoramas, at different times of the day, showing the outcrops and cliffs surrounding and looming over her, beautiful images that would crown the Opportunity mission appropriately, than just monitor her dragging herself south, sol after sol, until one of those sols was eventually her last and she ground to a halt out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to do except look at the clouds scudding overhead and the impossibly faraway horizons all around her. -------------------- |
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Feb 13 2008, 05:55 PM
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#103
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Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
with nothing to do except look at the clouds scudding overhead and the impossibly faraway horizons all around her. But, at least, she would have tried. -------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
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Feb 13 2008, 06:50 PM
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#104
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Member Group: Members Posts: 713 Joined: 30-March 05 Member No.: 223 |
But, at least, she would have tried. I'm with Ustrax on this one. the small scale variability of the terrain encountered by the rovers thus far has been surprisingly high (remember the sudden disapearance of the blueberris etc.) So if Oppy makes use of her remaining bonus life time to drive as far as she can onwards to new horizons then we have a small but realistic chance of discovering entirely new and spectacular scientific findings waiting for us somewhere out in the plains bewteen the dunes ... Ponder this chance for entirely new discoveries (even if as low as, say 10 per cent) against another couple of hunderd sols of in-place routine observations .... So in the beginning of the mission we would clearly opt for the second alternative, avoiding unnecessary risk and make the most scientifc use per sol out of the expensive hardware ... but now, on bonus time, 10 times beyond any initial mission expectations... nothing to lose any more ... only to win |
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