Endeavour Drive - Drivability analysis Options

[djellison]

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200809191

You can listen via NPR, or via one of the web feeds that are listed on the site, but make sure you do listen if you can.

[djellison]

I'd like to see end to end HiRISE imagery before we set out - a month, maybe two - and seriously - there is still fun to be had at Victoria anyway.

How else are we going to play the part of noisy back-seat drivers?

[RoverDriver]

I'd like to see end to end HiRISE imagery before we set out - a month, maybe two - and seriously - there is still fun to be had at Victoria anyway.

How else are we going to play the part of noisy back-seat drivers?

Doug, as anticipated privately, I'm going to break out of my silent lurking. First of all let's make sure everyone understands I'm speaking for myself only, if my employer wants to speak they have their own channels and definitely I'm not one of them. That's what my signature says, and hopefully the meaning will be clear to everyone. Hopefully I won't get into trouble for posting here, I like my job and I'd like to keep it.

Speaking for myself, I did appreciate immensely the suggestions, comments and good ideas that I read on this forum. Besides keeping my morale high I picked up many good ideas from all of you. It is pretty amazing what you have been able to infer from the little information that has been released.

Is is time to hit the road. Once we extricate the rover from the current position (we tried to reach a pretty compelling science target knowing full well the likelihood of success was low) we will head for Endevour. I have seen some suggestions from you guys about paths to follow. While it is premature to analyze the terrain until we have HiRISE, I'd like to understand what was your line of reasoning behind the path, what data you used and how you made the assessment.

Paolo

[SFJCody]

I have seen some suggestions from you guys about paths to follow. While it is premature to analyze the terrain until we have HiRISE, I'd like to understand what was your line of reasoning behind the path, what data you used and how you made the assessment.

Paolo

The rover driver on the forum asking us about the potential routes we've come up with! Now this is surreal.

Anyway, for this map I took a direct straight line route from Victoria to Endeavour (using a THEMIS mosaic assembled by slinted)and split it up into 'legs' determined by terrain type. I added a kink to get the rover to a moderate sized crater ('mini-Endurance') on the grounds that it would be a good window for the project scientists to check geological heterogeneity. I put the end of the journey at the hills of the western rim as the MGS hematite map seems to (maybe possibly) show a compositional difference at the visible rim of Endeavour (both west and east), although it's difficult to be certain.

Thinking about it, though, it might be better if I had put Leg A directly due east across Victoria's annulus rather than due south. That would make Leg B through the Etched Terrain more south-trending and reduce the number of times the rover would have to cross over the ripples.

You know you have one of the best jobs in the world, right?

[RoverDriver]

...
Thinking about it, though, it might be better if I had put Leg A directly due east across Victoria's annulus rather than due south. That would make Leg B through the Etched Terrain more south-trending and reduce the number of times the rover would have to cross over the ripples.
...

OK, now think what would be the easiest and safest route to Endevour if you did not have to stop for science. I'm not saying we will not, not saying we will either because I do not know at this time how many and where the stopovers are. Let's get the ball (wheels) rolling and get some ideas out. Don't flood me with PMs or e-mails , there is plenty of time to sit and think. Unless we find a way to flap the wings of Opportunity's deck it will take quite some time to go around Victoria. So far I heard we should drive CCW around Victoria and that part is already covered by HiRISE. How far from the rim would you keep the rover? Keep in mind that a couple of stops on the rim might be requested.

The reply is attached to this message but of course the question is for all of you. This is just an experiment, let's see what happens.

Paolo

[fredk]

OK, now think what would be the easiest and safest route to Endevour if you did not have to stop for science... How far from the rim would you keep the rover? Keep in mind that a couple of stops on the rim might be requested.

Welcome, Paulo. It's a thrill to have a real driver acknowledge us noisy back-seat drivers!

Given the ease we've had so far driving on the anulus, I'd think we're basically "science-dominated", ie anywhere the science team decides to visit around the rim of Victoria should be easy to reach. There are some larger dunes on the eastern rim to keep an eye on, especially if the science team wants to do imaging from the rim (eg the "linear features" that've been discussed). Of course the less we advance the odometer the better.

As for the route to Endeavour, my post and route sketch from over a year ago was based on the principle of "avoid dunes whenever possible", and the hirise image PSP_001414_1780, and the hope that the tarmac continues east (I haven't seen hirise images further east). The "tarmac" to the NE appears to have the smallest dunes, but I agree that Tesheiner's route above (or a similar route that heads more directly east at first) looks not too bad, at least barring a wheel failure. A big question I have is what happens to our dune traversibility if we loose a wheel? Perhaps in that case you'd rather be on the tarmac to the NE.

It might appear that a "tarmac" route as I sketched would be longer than a more direct route to the SE, but tarmac means essentially straight drive segments, while dunes probably mean zig-zagging east when you can cross dunes, then south between dune crests, so the total distance may be much larger than the "crow flies" distance.

Perhaps there's going to have to be a mathematical expression for the "favorability", F, of a route. Greater total odometry would reduce F. Fewer and smaller dunes increase F. Better science en route increases F, especially since our arrival at the final destination is far from guaranteed! I would not like to try guess the form the expression for F would take, or how much weight to give the engineering versus science goals!

I wish you the best of luck as you embark on your greatest road trip yet!

[ustrax]

Dear Fredk, maybe I'm missing something here but isn't your path towards Endeavour pointing in the opposite direction, NE?
EDITED: Forget what I've written...just reread it and saw that heading NE was precisely your point...

Stu, about an older crater I don't know but I see three beautiful ones due South...maybe we should start our campaign right now to have things ready for when Oppy finishes her work at Endeavour...

Is any of these Miyamoto?...

EDITED: No it is not...