Cape York - Northern Havens, Sol 2780 - 2947 Options

[Stu]

Oppy seems to have stopped to catch her breath at Turkey Haven, and the latest Hazcams show she is preparing to spend some time studying the rocks there, so this seems like a good time to start a new topic.

If you have any images/observations to share relating to Oppy's approach to Turkey Haven, please post them in the previous thread.

To start us going, here's my take on Oppy's view of Turkey Haven - not suggesting the colours are particularly realistic, but they do show, I think, the great variety of tones and hues visible on the rocks at this intriguing place...

[marsophile]

If the wind is coming from the southeast, and the rover deck is tilted towards the north (actually more like northwest), wouldn't any wind just clean the underside of the deck, not the solar panels? (Unless we got a down-draft.)

While there is still sufficient power, it might be worth briefly going over the ridge and facing the southeast.

[Matt Lenda]

If the wind is coming from the southeast, and the rover deck is tilted towards the north (actually more like northwest), wouldn't any wind just clean the underside of the deck, not the solar panels? (Unless we got a down-draft.)

While there is still sufficient power, it might be worth briefly going over the ridge and facing the southeast.

We'd have to be tilted away at a pretty big angle to not get anything on the topside. Basic aerodynamics -- air's still flowing up there!

I think we discussed turning towards the crater at one meeting a while back. Given that we have no idea (...at all) when a cleaning gust could come, the errors bars are simply too big to risk it. Doing that even for a short time would likely be a significant waste. We'd be gambling the rover for something we think might happen once a year... That's a hard sell point!

Better go where we know we can survive: North-facing places!

-m