Going To Mogollon..., ...and points South Options

[Bill Harris]

It was already said that those structures seen on previous hazcam pics (well, in all sort of cameras and filters...) were delicate.

[attachment=3535:attachment] (138k)
But what about these ones? It looks like the smallest touch could broke them.

[attachment=3536:attachment] (138k)
PS: It's time to open a new thread, don't you think so?

Good idea. That topic was "tired" and had the cord showing.

Delicate, to be sure. One thing I've noticed is that the "ledge-forming" rocks are a layer and extend to the right and left of where we camped out. I wonder if that feature is related to the bluff at Mogollon Rim?

We need to check out the "mobile dust" at that site and see if there has been more movement during the stopover.
--Bill

[djellison]

Power 19% further out will be 41% lower, I think

Doug

[helvick]

Power 19% further out will be 41% lower, I think

The local microclimate and dust deposition\cleaning patterns are causing major differences at the moment it seems.New Scientist MER update.

Jones says in order to be productive during a sol, the rovers need at least 400 watt-hours. That amount of power allows an hour-long drive, a couple hours of robotic arm work or remote sensing and a daily data uplink to the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. To simply stay alive, they need about 280 watt-hours.

Spirit is currently operating with about 450 watt-hours per sol, but the available power has dropped by about 100 watt-hours over the past 50 sols, Jones says.
.....
The coming winter is less pressing for Opportunity, which is closer to the equator and is still operating with about 600 watt-hours of power each sol.

Time for me to go off and properly calculate some power curves for the onset of winter but my quick calculations tell me that Oppy will stay above about 330 whr throughout winter and has at least three months ahead when she should be able to manage an hour or more driving per sol. Spirit is losing between 10 and 15 whr per week at the moment so she really has to get to McCool hill within about 40 Sols or she risks getting stranded in a less than ideal spot unable to move.

[Nirgal]

Time for me to go off and properly calculate some power curves for the onset of winter

Thanks helvick !
I've been already anxiously waiting for your detailed update ... major concern was for Oppy not reaching the slopes of Victoria in time (whereas Spirit will have no problems to reach it's winter parking position)
... I thought it must come close to the 300 Watts "deadline" even for Oppy .... so the cited 330 W minimum for Oppy is encouraging ...
And, unfortunately, as for further cleaning events, as nice as they are, they are not something we can count on ...